


Born to Abide, Forced to Oppose

by viraseii



Category: Homestuck, MS Paint Adventures
Genre: Angst, Ashen Romance | Auspistice, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Blood, Blood and Injury, Caliginous Romance | Kismesis, Character Death, Death, Drug Use, F/F, F/M, Flushed Romance | Matesprits, Illegal Activities, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Injury, Kissing, M/M, Minor Character Death, Original Character Death(s), Pale Romance | Moirallegiance, Past Character Death, Past Rape/Non-con, Prostitution, Quadrant Confusion, Quadrant Vacillation, Rape/Non-con Elements, Rough Kissing, Strider Manpain, Underage Prostitution, Violence, lol that tag is just funny to me, will add characters and tags and relationships as it progresses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-23
Updated: 2017-08-21
Packaged: 2018-06-07 22:50:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 13
Words: 42,817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6828352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/viraseii/pseuds/viraseii
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which a young man born into a family of federal criminals does his best to disappoint neither his older brother nor his housemate who may or may not later turn out to be the love of his life, but along the way gets tangled up in endless strings, probably nearly dies once or twice, and must navigate the clusterfuck of his life to arrive at his destination where he hopes to finally be at peace with his heart, his mind, his loyalties, his family, and the law.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> heyyyy guys I got this idea a while back but only recently formulated it into something coherent. Basically, Dave is involved with drug exchanges between cartels in mexico and buyers on the US side. I WILL be displaying mexico as more than just a name I needed to make this work. As in, mexico in this story will not simply be the source of illegal drugs, it's going to be a little more. People live in this country. It's not just a drug hub.
> 
> I guess... It's really a story about humanity and morality.
> 
> Alternate title: in which Viri is self-indulgent davekat trash
> 
>  
> 
> updates at LEAST every month with some requested flexibility on your part. I have a sporadic, hectic, crazy schedule.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we are introduced to the tensions of Daves life with an undercurrent of sexual tension he has no idea exists but it totally does and he's fucking blind and in denial.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dave's POV

I make sure the bullet graze on my arm is covered by my new jacket before I enter the house. Karkat was the only one I'd stayed friends with since high school, and the only one I'd stayed connected to throughout college. Of course, he doesn't know about my... background. But he doesn't have to. He's a good friend in his ignorance, and I have no intention of ruining that with my bullshit.

So he took a job as an English professor and I convinced him I was a paleontology specialist working in the museum nearby. I have the diploma, of course, but I can only dream of working at that place. Every time I have to travel south to Mexico I tell him it's for a dig. It's a good cover, and he's usually so swamped with work he never sees any reason to doubt me, and by extension never sees any reason to check if my stories are even true. So although Timaeus chastises me for being careless, I thoroughly enjoy being housemates.

It's just times like these that make me edgy.

I unlock the door and pull it open, pounding my boots against the "fuck off" doormat to detach some of the mud caked on in layers around the soles. Normally people don't come home from museums this dirty, but it's dark and late so maybe he won't take notice.

He's sitting at the couch with a mess of papers on our glass coffee table in front of him, a single meager lamp lit up as it stands on the side table.

"Yo," I call out.

"Hmm," is his response, so quiet I can hardly hear it.

"How can you even see?" I flip the light on and he hisses softly, leaning back and squinting.

"Where've you been?" he demands. "Do you know what time it is?"

"No."

"It's twelve fucking forty. The museum closed an hour ago. And it's a Tuesday, Dave, I need my god damn sleep." He yawns, cutting off his rant, and I grin a little.

"We received a new artifact late this evening, it's passing through us on its way East, but the shipment got delayed. Sorry, I probably should have called you." I slip off my shoes and socks and let my bare feet sink into the welcoming carpet, soft after the daylong accumulation of dirt and grit in my shoes.

He squints at me, his head tipped over the back of the sofa so that it's upside down. "So I'm assuming as soon as you were done with this oh-so-important package, you sat your ass down in your car and drove straight home."

"Sure?" I say. "What's that supposed to mean."

"Really? Then explain the new jacket."

I blink. I wasn't expecting that. "The old one got caught in some idiot's shitty crate stapling job and ripped, so I bought a new one. Is that so bad?"

He stares at me for a few more seconds before seeming to accept it and closing his eyes. I let out a slight breath of relief through my nostrils before walking over to him and placing my right arm over his shoulder.

"It _is_ late. Come on, let's go upstairs."

"I'm grading," he mutters, his voice chained in weariness.

"Jesus, stop giving your students so much work and you won't have to look through it, you know."

"'S not that simple." His words are slurring now. "Need to meet requirements and shit. Also it's an easy unit, we're analyzing a book, this is middle school shit."

"You're already half asleep. I'll pick them up for you, just get some rest. You nearly look like a god damn raccoon."

He makes some weak noise of protest, clearly not moving of his own volition any time soon, so I grip his arm and hoist him up. He swears at me but rubs at his face, heading up the stairs.

I gather his papers up, separating the graded pile from the unread and tucking them into a folder. I'm about to close it when the prompt catches my eye.

_Explore the protagonist's relationship with his colleagues and how finding out about their involvement with the cartel develops the character. Formulate an argument about the author's commentary on the country's longstanding drug history and its effect on the average citizen's life._

As I flip through his folder, I find pages and pages of historical context on various different drug cartels and their history, and it sends shivers up my spine.

Eventually I let the folder fall closed and shove it into Karkat's bag, my mind reeling. Of course it's just course material; it doesn't have any significance and I don't need to be concerned, but doubt and caution are lifesaving constants I've grown up knowing.

Regardless, it's late, and if I don't make it seem like I'm getting sleep, it could raise suspicion. So I head upstairs and into my room, opening the door to the bathroom and starting up the tap.

I slowly shrug off my jacket, wincing at the movement in my left arm. I've been grazed once or twice before, and treating it is never pretty. After removing my shirt, I'm bending down and gritting my teeth as the water runs over the wound, careful not to look at the red, when I hear another voice.

"Strider."

I tense up immediately at first, my hand already on the gun inside the pocket of my jacket, lying on the counter. Then I register who it is and glance up in the mirror, eyes wide, to see Karkat standing in the doorway. I whirl around and step forward against the wall adjacent to the door so its corner obscures my shoulder.

"Yeah?" I say nonchalantly.

His gaze is hard as he steps over the threshold and grabs my right shoulder, pushing me back against the sink and staring at the blood and water running down my left arm. "What the fuck is this?? How did it happen?" His voice is hot with anger but sprinkled with concern. "There's no way in fucking hell that was done by a misplaced staple. What were you doing, getting in a street fight? Walking too close to traffic? Operating heavy machinery?"

I want to laugh at the mundane suggestions, but at the same time my mind is turning to spin another lie. "It was just some lifting mechanism in the backroom, dude. No big deal."

Karkat curls his lip in exasperation and anger, shoving me backward, but I'm already against the countertop so it's a pointless gesture.

He bends down and opens the cupboard, drawing out a bottle of alcohol. I groan inside. "I'll do it myself Karkat, it's fine."

"Fuck off," he says curtly, grabbing my arm and positioning it over the sink before pouring alcohol over it _straight out of the god damn bottle_.

"OW, fuck," I hiss at him, every muscle in my body tensing up as my entire left side lights on fire. "I wasn't fucking prepared for that, god _damn_."

He ceases pouring the alcohol, but my arm hurts so bad I can't think. I tilt my head up and stare straight at the ceiling, the lights doubling and tripling, my jaw clenching.

Then water is running, cool and smooth and sliding over my screaming skin. Karkat grabs a bandage from the first aid kit under the sink and wraps my arm gently, tying it off while muttering obscenities under his breath.

When he's done, he glances up at me. "Thanks," I say, trying to sound nonchalant.

"Why were you hiding it?" he asks. "I'd only help you."

It hurts to hear those words. Lying to him is a daily practice and I hate it. I wish I could tell him everything, but there are a thousand reasons why I can't. And he wouldn't help me. Not if he knew.

So I shrug. "You need to sleep, dumbass."

He pulls me in for an unexpected hug. "Be careful, you fucking idiot." Then he turns and leaves.

I rub the back of my neck and watch him walk away and out of sight, my skin tingling with his warmth.

After another few minutes I put on a clean shirt and head downstairs, closing and locking the front door behind me silently. It's a 20 minute drive to the small, neglected, decrepit neighborhood under Timaeus's control. The houses look shabby from the exterior, but as soon as you get inside, everything screams of wealth. His house is somewhere tucked into the middle. It's the largest, having somehow escaped notice from any authority when Bro had the architecture expanded.

I pull into the driveway and step out, a gun barrel already pointed at my chest. I glare at the man behind it.

"It's me, you fucking degenerate," I growl at him, pushing the gun away. He realizes his mistake and his eyes widen a little.

"Sorry," he says, his English accented. I sneer at him as I stride toward the door and bang my fist against the peeling paint.

It takes a minute for him to answer. When he finally does open the door, he leans against the doorframe, greeting me with a tired look of slight disapproval.

"Did I disturb your beauty sleep, Dirk?" I say sarcastically, ignoring the murderius glare I get for using his name so freely. "Shit, you should have told me. I would have brought you extra blankets and pillows to make sure you were comfy. Do you need anything else? Hair gel? Lotion? Lipstick? I could get you a straightening iron if you want.

He lifts his hand to his face, rubbing his temples with the tips of his fingers and covering his eyes with his palm. "Do you ever shut up?" He says.

"After all these years, you're still asking that."

Dirk opens his eyes, but looks at the man standing behind me instead. "It's not nice to eavesdrop," he mutters, pulling his other hand out from behind the doorframe and shooting him without even blinking.

I flinch, my eyes squeezing shut and my ears ringing as I hear the momentum of the bullet throw his body back into the tangled rosebushes.

"Come in," Dirk says softly. I step inside numbly. As soon as he closes the door, I whirl around and face him.

"Why the fuck was that necessary?"

He shrugs. "If you don't use my name where others can hear it, they won't have to die."

"Don't you feel any remorse, _Timaeus_?" I demand.

Dirk gives me that look, the one he's given me my entire life. Equal parts confusion and pity, but twice as much dismay. "Our lives have no time for remorse."

"Clearly." I was thirteen when Dirk killed Bro. He was fifteen. It all turned out okay, I suppose, in the end; it just so happened that Bro had been planning to have me murdered so Dirk could be the heir, and I wouldn't be alive to cause any trouble. But even if it was in some way justified, that didn't make the death any less shocking. That someone so young could do what was needed to be done without feeling an ounce of regret. There was a very clear reason Bro had chosen Dirk to be his successor.

"You definitely took your sweet time getting your ass over here," he says as I follow him to the dining room.

"I was busy," I respond curtly, suddenly remembering Karkat's hands drifting over my bare skin.

"Dave, you need to ditch the boy."

"It's not your decision to make," I sneer at him.

He gives me a look. "Don't you realize what you're doing? And only because you wish you weren't born into this. You need to stop running from your life. Karkat needs to be able to live his life without your connections here dragging him down. You realize that if he so much as has a doubt, he will be killed? You do realize that?"

I wince at the thought. "Yeah." Of course I do.

"If there's a specific reason you're staying with him, I'm telling you now, it's not going to lead anywhere and you're going to have to let him go." He pours two glasses of dark amber liquid as I prop my legs up on the mahogany table.

I glance around the room before I answer. Everything here is worth a fortune, and all of it is siphoned off the black market. Thick, bright carpets; gold frames around priceless artwork; elegant, high-end furniture; twelve flatscreens paneled on the wall. Chandeliers, and ornaments on every wall. The table is hand carved, elegant, precise. And I know there's several hundred thousands of dollars, if not more, invested into security measures and technology. Nothing happens anywhere here without Dirk knowing about it. Of course, the picture isn't complete without his fucking puppet sitting on the coffee table.

It still isn't his style, though. It makes me wonder what he's doing here instead of at his other place.

"Dave?"

"Yeah, yeah I know that."

"Our lives don't permit these kinds of things."

"And you and Jake? Our life certainly permits that, doesn't it?"

He tilts his head at me. "So you view yourself and Karkat in the same way you view Jake and me?"

I know what he's doing. "Don't avoid the question."

"That's different. It's business."

I want to laugh. "That's the least plausible lie you've ever told."

"I don't need you here to argue menial, benign, irrelevant semantics."

"Then I'll go," I say, raising my right arm in surrender and letting my feet off the table.

"Shut up."

"Ooh, sophisticated language."

"How did it go today?" Dirk says, ignoring my quips.

I shrug with one shoulder, my gaze wandering. "You got the shipment, didn't you?"

"Obviously the 400 pounds of cocaine are fine. It's all being processed through and dispatched as we speak. How did it go for _you_?" he says.

"O, The great Timaeus hast shown human emotion, nay, I shalt go so far as to say he hast shown truest genuine heartfelt concern for his dearest younger brother." I hide my grin at his exasperated expression. "I feel the stars of the universe shifting above, the frogs i' th' forest cease their singing to hear. The waves still as the moon's frosty breath pauses to witness; thou hast caused a great disturbance i' th' very air such that doth grace my blessed soul with thine own kindness."

"Fine, I'll be blunt."

He reaches over and grabs my drink, downing it in one go. I frown at him. "Rude."

"You weren't going to drink it anyway. What happened to your arm?" he says.

"Injury," I say, looking off to the right nonchalantly.

"Do elaborate."

"It was a bullet graze."

"Isn't it a bit hard for you to clean up your own blood? Given the color?"

My voice turns icy cold. "I can take care of myself Dirk."

"You know it's nothing against you. The shades help, but I know the red light filters in and that the reactions are still strong."

"How would you know? You spent a good year or so in hiding while I had to go through that. It's not like you have experience." I refuse to look at him. My body stays cool and relaxed, but I'm on full alert, and I'm _angry_.

"I do _remember_ , Dave. I know." He doesn't know shit.

I sigh. "Is there a point you're trying to make here? Because that Blue Angel's zooming straight over my head as I stand and watch and desperately try to visually follow it from my sweating spot in this hellhole airshow."

"Alright. How did you manage it?"

"I washed it and wrapped it up. Dirk, if you want first-aid training go talk to some Girl Scouts in the next neighborhood over."

"Does Karkat know? Does he help you every time you come home with unexplainable injuries?"

I stand up, pushing the chair back with my knees so hard it almost falls. I slam my palms against the table in anger. "Stop it. Stop it now. I'm handling my own life fine and I don't need you fucking dictating what I'm allowed to do and who I'm allowed to talk to," I seethe.

Dirk sets the glass down heavily and rises as well, only his stance is the calm kind of anger that's kept inside and cool and has been sharpened into a precise blade. The most dangerous kind. "Remember your place. You're not a common citizen. Neither are you my equal. If Karkat knows anything, he will die. For his own protection, if you truly do care about him, leave him. Has he ever wondered why there's no red in your house?"

"You've never been to my house."

"You're ignoring the point I'm making."

I can hardly control my anger, but my voice comes out in a practiced monotone. I feel too much. I have to get better at this. "To this day, Karkat has never once seen, heard, noticed, or been suspicious of anything. I know how to keep both lives separate. If you have nothing better to harangue me for, I'm leaving." I can't lie, not to him - he'll see right through it. But I can bend the truth.

Dirk stares carefully at me for a moment before saying, "We're going South tomorrow."

I don't utter a word for a minute, baffled. "Such short notice??"

"Is there a problem? I believe I can trust nothing's here holding you down or keeping you tied to outside obligations," he says coolly. He hasn't moved an inch, and I'm trying so hard not to walk out on him because I have to, need to show the same amount of control as he does.

This again. It takes everything in me not to let the long, exasperated sigh slip past my lips. "No."

"Our arms dealer is joining us as well," he says casually.

This time the groan slips free, completely free-rein. "Nooo. Not him."

"You're going to have to learn to tolerate him sooner or later."

I don't say anything, and the silence stretches out.

"Is there a specific reason you're here rather than at your dumb Japanese mansion?" I say, not wanting to end the visit with the subject of Karkat and Dirk's disapproval of him still hanging unresolved between us.

He frowns a little. And now, here, in this moment, he feels less like a criminal kingpin and more like my brother, my family. "It isn't dumb. It's elegant like you don't have the capacity to understand. Anyway, the road's being watched by the Skaians. We've got quite a drive ahead of us, since there's no access to the main private hanger for a while."

The Skaians. They're this annoying underground group that's been hellbent on bringing us down. They cover up good, though. We haven't been able to track down a single member; although of course, they haven't caught any of ours either. I ponder that for a while. "They haven't even found any of our property yet, though. Why would they watch that road?"

"They're just suspicious. It happens. Their guard is low, so they should be gone in not too long," he shrugs.

I nod at him, and he nods back. My cue to leave. "Try those drinks before they've rotted away and you'd actually have something of quality," I comment, heading towards the door. He follows after me.

"It's been fermented-"

"Same thing."

"-And the quality is excellent. You're a fucking child."

"AJ is the bomb," is the last thing I say to him before stepping outside. Refusing to look at the dead man on the fucking porch, my eyes flick to Dirk once more before I slip into my car and drive back home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> pleeaaase let me know what you think of this chapter!!! Your comments make my day; i literally crave them. I do intend to continue this; i'm unsure what the total chapter count will be but from the current state of things and how they look, probably no more than ten, but more than, like, 4.
> 
>  


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Viri decides to make her first otp kiss for a while. Enjoy it while it lasts, sinners.

I hug her closer to me. She smells so nice, like cherries - she eats so many of them - but also like when you go outside after the rain. "Remind me why we're doing this again," I say, my voice muffled against her shoulder.

Her laugh shakes her body in my arms. "For justice, Karkat." She pulls back, her violently red eyes crinkled into the most beautiful smile.

"I mean, yeah, I know that. But we aren't going after every single god damn drug cartel with branches that reach here. Why is it specifically this one?"

She nods a little, putting her thoughts into words. "The Veil cartel has more access points through the border than any other cartel that is known as of yet. They have a near monopoly over the drug industry, and according to our estimations are siphoning off millions, perhaps billions of dollars from our economy every year. It's a political and economical battle. We need to protect our nation." Then she grins at me and winks. "Also, I intend to be president one day, and I won't have them rampaging about in my country."

I frown slightly, because all this sounds a little familiar.

That's when the dream breaks. I slap my hand against my face, rubbing at my eyes as I shift under my blankets. The alarm hasn't gone off yet, so-

Strike that. Rap music explodes from the speakers, and rage snaps my arm out to slam on the button. I open one eye and glare at the alarm, and sure enough, Dave's phone is plugged into it, the lit screen showing a paused track I don't give two shits about. I would scream at him, but he likes to sleep in the mornings.

Which is why I'm surprised when he stumbles into the kitchen, rubbing at his face as I'm chewing my breakfast. His hair is messy, the bandage over his left arm clean and fresh, infuriating shades sliding back down to cover his eyes as he drops his arm. "Hey," he says, his voice groggy and thick with drowsiness.

"Why the fuck are you awake?" I demand, in a way that probably sounded ruder than I meant. He doesn't notice, though.

"Mmmh," is his response as he comes toward me and wraps his arms around my stomach, burying his head into the side of my neck from behind. He gets so fucking clingy whenever he's sleepy like this, god _damn_.

I shove him away. "Get the fuck off." He refuses to budge.

"I feel so close to you right now," he says into my jacket, and I roll my eyes.

Pulling away, I turn and lean against the counter. "What's your deal?" I ask him. "Any other day you're snoring away in your block like a fucking roarbeast in winter. It's so peaceful down here without you."

He sighs. "Impromptu thing came up last night. I'm leaving soon." I raise my eyebrows at that, my mouth twisting downward subtly.

"How long?" I ask him.

He shrugs. "Not sure."

"Where are you going? What 'thing'? Why does this job require you to run off at a split second's notice all the fucking time?"

He smirks a little. God, so dumb. _Go back to sleep. You look better when I can pretend you're fucking dead._

"Are you jealous, kitkat?"

That's it. "Okay, I should have expected you wouldn't give me a straight answer, but kitkat, really? You know you're just doing this to piss me off. How fucking old are you, 12? Why don't you go back to middle school, you putrid seed-flap groping sack of-" he puts his hand on my mouth so I just sort of yell the rest of my sentence into it before managing to push his arm away with my elbow.

He turns around and pops a bagel into the toaster. "Sorry," is all he says, leaning casually against the counter.

I angrily bite my toast before saying, "Whatever, it's not really that big of a deal. See you whenever, I guess."

He looks at me kind of oddly. "Yeah," he says in a quieter voice, yawning.

I focus on the clock behind him. "I'm leaving. Bye. Try not to fucking kill yourself," I say, gesturing to his arm. He grins and waves as I grab my folder, push it into my bag, and step toward the door.

"You were grading in the morning?" he says, as if it's completely ridiculous.

Well, actually, I hadn't been; I was perusing the information I'd printed off about the Veil. But Dave can't know that, so I nod stiffly.

"That's dumb."

"Bye, Dave," I say, more as if it's a command rather than a farewell, before slamming the door closed behind me and getting into my car.

I visit Terezi at her hotel first. It takes some time to clear through security, but before the hour's up I'm sitting on her couch. "Haven't we found _anything_ yet? How would they even know we were watching that road?"

She shrugs, sipping apple juice.

I must say, apple juice drives me _insane_. Dave always insists on keeping several fucking containers in the fridge, and I can't count how many times I've almost grabbed it instead of something else and nearly god damn killed myself. And for some reason, just because she's immune to apples, Terezi drinks it all the fucking time. I'm still not completely convinced she doesn't just do it to piss me off. I'm fairly certain she doesn't even particularly like it.

"Our facial recognition software identified someone from one of the hotspots in Texas driving down a road in California. By the time we checked on it, the data had been erased. Maybe there isn't even anything more we can get out of watching this road, but it's worth a shot. And also kind of our biggest lead right now," she says. It sounds professional and businesslike, but I can hear the undertones of excitement and passion in her voice. It's one of the things I love best about her.

"Oh, joy, another triumph for Team Adorabloodthirsty. How is that even a lead?" I demand. "The software could have messed up. There's nothing even to go on anymore except this fucking dead-end road."

She laughs that infuriating laugh. "The software didn't mess up. My friend in the CIA programmed it himself. He's very tech-savvy." Her voice is matter-of-fact. She's smirking a little, and it reminds me of Strider. "And he smells delicious. Appleberry."

I snort. "Thought your whole fascination was with red."

She grins and leans across the table toward me in a way that makes my heart race. "Of cooouuurse," she croons. "You smell the best, Karkat."

She winks at me and I have no fucking clue how to respond, so I grumble out, "Good."

"Anyway, I'm not so sure it's a dead-end road. If they can hack into _Tholluxth's_ software, they can probably hack into any satellite-photographed maps as well."

"Who's?" I interrupt her.

"Sollux, CIA friend, gog, Karkat, use your think pan. So I think this road probably leads somewhere. It's too big of a coincidence - these states are miles and miles apart and I can practically smell something off about it."

"You can smell fucking anything," I retort. "You can smell apart the unreleased fecal matter of a flea on a woofbeast a mile away masked in skunk." She wrinkles her face up at the notion. "Okay, so, why don't we just go check it out?"

"No, we can't do that, nubface. I'm a senator and you're an English teacher. The Veil is most likely watching this road too, now that they know that _we're_ watching it; we have no reason to go there on our own and once they see us, they'll know who we are," she says with an undertone of laughter.

"This is a clusterfuck," I grumble. "This is complete fucking bullshit. We're not making any progress. Aren't you in contact with one of them? Can't we bring him in and question him? Maybe make him fucking pay for what they've done to Gamzee?"

Terezi sticks out her tongue at the mention of Gamzee like a child. "I can't just bring him in like that. If I brought even one security guard to any of our meetings, he would never see me again. And then we won't even be able to study their drugs and see if it leads us anywhere! Come on Karkat, if this was simple we would have taken them out long ago."

I cross my arms and lean back on the bright red couch. She just breaks into a grin and comes around the table, taking a seat on the couch and wrapping her arms around me.

"You're adorable," she mutters, hugging me to her. My face burns until I realize...

"Stop fucking smelling me," I growl, pushing her cackling body away. She smells like apple juice, a scent I'm all too familiar with. "Why do you even fucking drink that shit?"

Terezi leans forward, her face the picture of excitement. "It tastes like amber gold," she gushes, and I make a disgusted sound. "Oh, bluh bluh," she teases. "Nubby McShouts is just jealous he can't have any."

"Certainly _not_ ," I respond. "I have somewhere to be right now, unlike you, so I'll be leaving." I stand up, and she sprawls over the couch where I was just sitting, grinning up at me.

"You don't have classes until nine," she counters.

"I'm gonna go see Gamzee," I say.

"Ewwwww, gross. You'd rather see him than spend time with meeee?"

"Yeah," I grumble, picking up my bag and sliding the strap onto my shoulder. She comes up behind me and gives me a kiss on the cheek.

And then she fucking _licks_ me. "Byeeeee, Kaaaarkaaaaat," she drawls out, dragging her tongue up my face.

"Fuck!" I yell, stumbling out into the corridor and scrubbing my cheek. "Don't ever do that again. What are you, 4?? Fucking _hell_ , Terezi. This is fucking disgusting."

She waves her fingers at me playfully as I turn and stalk towards the elevator.

Terezi funded a monumental building project several years ago. It's a 413 story skyscraper called the Incipisphere in the middle of downtown. I have absolutely no fucking clue how she found the plot, because the base is _actually_ gargantuan. It houses our headquarters and base of operations, and taking the place as the world's tallest building by landslides, we're extremely well funded with the profits made off of tourism. She got in a lot of trouble with airplane people and architecture people and a whole lot of people in general but congress can do whatever the fuck it wants and no one can even do anything about it.

Most people think it's built solely for tourism and that the levels in between aren't even accessible, and are just filled with architectural supports. They're not completely wrong; it's just that said architectural supports are fully accessible to the right people, and also serve for some exciting games of hide and seek whenever we're not busy with tracking down important drug cartels.

Adults need to be children too sometimes.

Unless you're Terezi; in which case you never grew up in the first place and hardly can be considered a fucking adult at all. How she plans to win the elections is beyond me.

For some reason that never fails to elude me, she still rents out a room in her fancy-ass prettyfuck hotel crawling with tight faced stiff-butt security monkeys, rather than staying at the Incipisphere, but whatever.

It takes only the blink of an eye for the private elevator to get to the third floor; the first floor that's available for our use and one of eight dedicated to any and all medical attention. Most of the skyscraper is empty honestly, and pointless except for the aforementioned hide and seek games. The private elevator only takes you to the first floor of every section of the building, so there aren't 413 buttons on one god damn wall. Getting up to the 10th floor where Gamzee has made his home requires another elevator.

He's just sitting there when I arrive. I'm the only one allowed into his room, because I'm the only one he hasn't tried to kill, and also because I frankly don't give a fuck about what anyone else says I can or can't do.

"Hey," I say softly.

"Sup, motherfucker?" he replies, grinning back at me lazily. Something in his eyes is wild. "Got anything for me?"

"No." I'm cautious. "How are you?"

"Feelin' like hell. Why don't we ever hang out outside of this place, brother? Gets so boring all up and staring at the same motherfucking walls all day."

"Yeah, sorry about that," you say, genuinely. "But, uh, I mean, no offense, but you've still got to get in a stable state before they're gonna let you go like that."

"That's what TZ's always sayin'," he grins. "I'm real motherfuckin' stable. Just see; one day I'll get _out of this place_." He yells the last bit, and I flinch.

I place one hand on his shoulder. This kismesissitude between him and Terezi isn't healthy at all, but I don't know what I can possibly do about it seeing as I'm never around at the right moments to auspisticise. "I know, bro," I say sadly.

We chat about random things for a while, but I find myself lingering on those words. He's been talking about getting out of this place more and more frequently recently. He's made empty threats before, but he's still under a lot of influence even as we've been easing him off the drugs. I'm worried he'll snap and maybe actually try to break out one day.

All I can do is be there for him right now, for as long as I can.

I have to leave soon though, because I have a class to teach. I don't realize my cartel research is missing until my first break, when I pull out a folder with only graded and unread assignments.

gallowsCalibrator [CG] began trolling carcinoGeneticist [GC]

GC: H3Y K4RK4T >:]  
CG: OK YOU'RE NOT GOING TO LIKE THIS.  
CG: ALL MY RESEARCH IS MISSING.  
GC: WH4T  
GC: WH4T DO YOU M34N 4LL YOUR R3S34RCH 1S M1SS1NG  
CG: I MEAN IT IS GONE. DOES NOT FUCKING EXIST. I DON'T HAVE IT.  
CG: JEGUS WHAT DO YOU *THINK* IT MEANS?  
CG: I CAN'T POSSIBLY MAKE IT ANY SIMPLER, IS THIS TOO MUCH FOR YOUR EMPTY HEAD TO HANDLE?  
GC: W3LL WH3R3 D1D YOU PUT 1T? WH4T D1D YOU DO W1TH 1T? HOW COULD YOU JUST LOSE SOM3TH1NG SO 1MPORT4NT, JUST L1K3 TH4T??  
CG: LOOK DON'T GET SO MAD OVER THIS.  
GC: I'M NOT >:/  
CG: I JUST MISPLACED IT, I GUESS.  
CG: I WAS READING THROUGH ALL MY PAPERS THIS MORNING AND THEN I PUT THEM IN MY BAG AND STRIDER WAS HUGGING ME FOR SOME BULLSHIT REASON AND I HAVENT TOUCHED THAT PARTICULAR FOLDER UNTIL JUST NOW.  
GC: STR1D3R, HUH? >;]  
CG: OH FUCK YOU RIGHT UP YOUR PAMPERED POSH-ASS NOOK. DON'T EVER SAY HIS NAME LIKE THAT EVER AGAIN. YOU KNOW I CAN'T STAND HIM.  
CG: BESIDES, YOU DON'T SEEM TO BE EXPRESSING ANY CONCERN OVER THE FACT THAT PAGES OF VALUABLE INFORMATION HAVE JUST FUCKING VANISHED.  
CG: AND COULD BE IN ANYONE'S HANDS AS OF THIS MOMENT, FOR ALL WE KNOW.  
GC: K4RK4T YOU KNOW W3 C4N JUST PR1NT OUT MOR3  
GC: 4ND 1T'S OBVIOUS TO 3V3RYON3 YOU CAN ST4ND D4V3 JUST FIN3, WHY 3LS3 WOULD YOU BE L1V1NG W1TH H1M, DUMB4SS >:P  
CG: BULLSHIT.  
CG: YOU ARE JUST SPEWING AN ENDLESS STREAM OF BULLSHIT OUT OF YOUR FINE BLUE-BLOODED PROTEIN CHUTE.  
CG: WHY DO I TALK TO YOU.  
CG: WHY DO I DO ANYTHING FOR YOU, THAT'S THE REAL QUESTION HERE.  
GC: SP34K1NG OF TH4T, TH3R3 W4S 4 R34SON 1 M3SS4G3D YOU  
CG: OH, WAS THERE NOW? HOW VERY NICE TO KNOW. PRAY TELL ME, MY SWEET LADY DARLING DEAREST, WHAT SUCH REASON COULD HAVE EXISTED SO AS TO HAVE GIVEN YOU CAUSE TO HARANGUE ME WITH YOUR LOOPY PSYCHEDELIC WEASEL ASS-BACKWARDS WORD VOMIT?  
GC: SHUT UP >:P  
GC: 1'LL M33T YOU FOR LUNCH 4T TH4T P4RK 1N 4NOTH3R T3N M1NUT3S  
GC: W3 N33D TO SP34K W1TH 34CH OTHER  
GC: S33 YOU K4RK4T! <3333

gallowsCalibrator [GC] ceased trolling carcinoGeneticist [CG]

Her last messages send my blood pusher pounding and my blood rushing in a way I wish they didn't. What does she want to see me for? I'm a little anxious and excited at the idea.

-

I'm sitting on a small hill chewing a sandwich when she suddenly grabs my shoulders from behind out of nowhere, causing me to jump, and swings down next to me. My eyes scan the sidewalks and trees around me, and sure enough, I can count two security officers right off the bat.

"You're so fucking careless," I growl at her, a little put off by her surprise entrance. "Someone's going to fucking assassinate you one day and I won't pay for a second of your lousy god damn funeral."

She grins and touches her nose to mine briefly, causing me to blush fiercer than I think I ever have before. "You know," she says in her devious tone, "you do this really adorable thing where you try to insult me, but there's some kind of compliment hidden in your words, like saying my funeral would be lousy. You think you have a tough grouchy exterior but I can see through it all. I know your mind."

She taps my horn with the last sentence, and I shiver and scoot about three feet away from her. "What _is_ your problem??" I gasp. "How about a little respect of personal space, Terezi?" She grins at me and winks before stabbing a fork into the salad sitting in her lap. "Wasn't there something you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Hm." She scoots closer to me, but makes no move to touch me again, so I let her, my chest tight with warring impulses. "It can wait. We'll get there. Let's just enjoy lunch." She smiles at me, gently this time, popping a cherry tomato into her mouth, her eyes lighting up.

"You fucking weirdo," I mutter, forcing my body into a relaxed position.

It's actually -- really nice here. The California sun is bright, the grass is fresh, we're alone and it's Terezi. It's picturesque and perfect and I can't help eventually letting go of the tension in my shoulders.

"What's been going on with you, Karkat?" she asks casually.

"Uh, grading? What else. These fuckers don't know shit. I wish I were in law with you. Better pay, better company..."

She grins at me and leans her head forward to rest her chin on my shoulder. "Better company, huh?"

"Well, yeah," I grumble, flustered as usual by her flirting. _Stop it. It's got nothing to do with you. She's just like that. It's her fucking personality._

Her nose wrinkles as she smiles, smooth grey skin glowing under the sun. "Not entirely true, though. Do you know how many uneducated idiots you find in politics? God, everyone sucks. Either they don't have a single clue what they're arguing about, or they hit on me."

For some reason that information makes me _really_ defensive. "Next time some old rich idiot tries to hit on your gorgeous ass I'll punch him straight in his fucking prissy-ass stench-riddled bulge," I promise, and genuine laughter bubbles out of her mouth.

She leans forward again, both our lunches finished by now, neither of us strong believers in savoring our food. She drapes her arms over my shoulders and leans forward, her malevolent red eyes crinkled into crescents. She has a single freckle right on her left cheekbone, straight above the dimples that dip into either side of her face. Her full lips are pulled into a smile, black and perfectly shaped, tiny, pearly white fangs uniform behind them.

It's like a fucking movie, it's exactly like a fucking movie.

"You're so adorable when you're jealous, Karkat," Terezi drawls, winking at me. "And nowwww... you smell delicious."

God damn it.

I war with indecision for a second, everything inside me turning over and over until it feels like all my organs have been displaced. She's right here and so close and being herself and making me fucking love her and--

"Fuck you," I sigh, and push my head forward, my lips meeting hers as my face heats up so much it starts going numb. My eyebrows are drawn together in the most conflicted frown I've ever formed. A small breath flutters out of Terezi in surprise before she kisses back, and I'm weak with the heady shock of the realization that _I am kissing Terezi Pyrope._

All my bones ache in the best way possible, my blood rushing to my face in joy even as I feel her inhale deeply and break off the kiss to push her nose against mine, smiling. Our foreheads are together and I open my eyes half way to look into her burned out gaze.

Her smile breaks after a second and she pulls back and turns around, leaning her back against my chest. "You're making me feel guilty now." I can hear the frown in her voice, but I'm still in a strange state of shock so I absently reach up to run my fingers into her hair and _I still can't believe this is real._

"Karkat, are you listening?"

"Hm," I respond, forcing my thoughts to connect with one another.

"There's something I need to tell you."

I hug her tighter. "Okay."

"The Veil is responsible for their deaths."

My blood pusher chills within milliseconds, dropping from all time high to probably a new all time low. "What do you mean?"

She pauses, not deliberately, but as if she's wrestling with herself to get the words out. "You know who I mean, Karkat, please don't make me say their names."

Her voice is so small, so alone, so scared and so guilty. I squeeze my arms around her and push my head into the crook of her shoulder. Anger settles hot and sharp in the pit of my stomach.

"That's why we're really going after them, I guess," she mumbles miserably.

"Okay," I say quietly. "Don't worry. We're going to fucking annihilate them." The information is still processing and trying to sink into my think pan, but I can say at least that much in confidence.

She turns around and smiles at me a little. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you before." And, yeah, I am a little put off that she never mentioned it, or maybe a lot put off.

But I frown at her. "Well, it's okay. Come on." I rise, offering her my hand. "I'll call a sub for myself."

She stands up, taking it.

"Kanaya will want to know," I say quietly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm weak for karezi I'm so sorry  
> Let's play a game called spot the ominous foreshadowing  
> Davekat is coming don't be deterred
> 
> I slaved through a migraine and transcended the need to sleep to post this guys I feel like really really tired but simultaneously enlightened and I'm worried for my own sanity hahahahahaha kill me its 1:27 am and I can barely see the keyboard what am I doing I have finals
> 
>  
> 
> On an alternate note  
> Please comment!!!!!!  
> They make me so happy


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So i did some research and found out things and so poof Sollux isn't actually FBI ok he's CIA i'm so sorry
> 
> Rose's POV  
> this chapter is fairly graphic. Violence and stuff.

Days in the past (but not many) (one, to be precise)...

\-- Anonymous [??] began pestering tentacleTherapist [TT] at 08:26 --

??: yo rose

I stretch my finger forward to hit the button on my phone that will warn her I'm in contact.

??: backstreet neighborhood in one hour  
??: ill send you the coordinates  
??: and expect to see you there k thx  
TT: I see you still strive to maintain your streak of giving me exceptionally short notice for our events.  
TT: Are you trying to break a record of some nature?  
TT: Perhaps expressing personal frustrations by replicating behaviors displayed by authority figures in your own life and projecting similar ones onto your subordinates?  
??: ok you should stop typing because it probably will make no sense like what you just said and im not gonna be reading it  
??: here

\-- anonymous [??] sent tentacleTherapist [TT] the file "06.12.ggl" --

??: we cool  
TT: What's wrong?  
??: what  
??: why would anything be wrong  
TT: I know you. Something's wrong. It'd be nice if we skipped this charade for once and you were straightforward with me.  
??: pffff  
??: rose have i ever once been straightforward with anyone  
??: what a ridiculous notion  
??: being straightforward is so fucking dumb  
??: as if you could call you own snooty self straightforward  
TT: To whom are you referring to, me? I believe I have been exceptionally transparent and helpful when the situation calls for it.  
??: yeah and according to you the situation calls for it never  
TT: Perhaps to administer this mutual change in our interpersonal dialogue you'll for once need to be the one start. And to start now.  
TT: I'd prefer not to go into another drug run while your rather juvenile emotions are raging high and volatile.  
TT: I'm currently recalling a very particular event regarding you, a target, some spilled juice, an attractive lady, and two flintlock pistols.  
??: that day was such bullshit  
??: and im a full fledged motherfucking adult  
??: got my wings of honor that commemorate me as such  
??: raven black for power and the sword of maturity protruding from my chest  
??: leftover from when my childhood committed seppuku  
??: and also the master of downplaying emotions  
??: over hypothetical spilled juice or otherwise  
??: because thats what cool dudes like me do  
??: what emotions oh you mean those tiny things locked deep inside that have no power whatsoever lol yeah who cares about them  
??: seal packed in a giant metal vault  
??: four feet thick and quality steel  
??: by the metal version of ziploc because damn do you know how many times I've tried to open one but ripped the fucking bag instead  
??: they know how to seal their shit  
??: they just need better plastic  
TT: Locking away your emotions isn't a healthy way to cope.  
??: man rose ugh  
??: listen i dont need to cope with anything  
??: the only thing I need  
??: is for you to shut up  
TT: On the contrary, I would argue that it is in fact crucial to learn to cope with one's troubles in order to live a healthy life. As well as to establish stable communication with one or more of the close members of one's friend circle, if not family.  
TT: And what, you don't enjoy my genuine care for your wellbeing? From what I've observed, you've responded as if it's a refreshing change from normality.  
TT: I would assume this means Timaeus is perhaps, to some degree, hostile in his demeanor, a fact which you have difficulty making your peace with?  
??: no youd be dead wrong on that one  
??: the big scary drug dealer is actually super nice  
??: every time we meet he offers me warm tea and we hug and sip and watch the flowers and the butterflies in the backyard  
??: with doilies on the table  
??: its real fuckin heartwarming  
TT: Is that so?  
??: no

I pause my conversation to check out Knight's file. It'll take me nearly forty minutes to drive to his destination, meaning I'd have to leave at about 8:50. I quickly read over his words once more.

It really isn't any new information. Despite his talkativeness, Knight's incredibly tight-lipped when it comes to anything even closely concerning his personal life. Although I respect the quality, it's a bit infuriating for the purposes of what I'm trying to do. I copy down his words anyway, so I can send it to the psychology sector later and see what they make of it. For years we've been at it, and the elusive Timaeus remains a shrouded enigma.

I check on Roxy for a second before returning to the conversation.

\-- tentacleTherapist  [TT]  began pestering tipsyGnostalgic  [TG] at 8:30 --

TT: Are you recording?  
TG: yea i'm recodring  
TG: must say though you two are fuckin adorable rosey ;)  
TT: Has Captor had any luck?  
TG: no  
TG: actually  
TG: its p funny  
TG: hes here makin all these weird clicky noises in angr  
TG: lmao trolls are adorable  
TT: Okay. Keep trying. I'll keep talking to him for as long as possible.

Really, it'd be easier to just talk, but it's preferred to keep all interactions on the log. She winks at me from my periphery. I decide not to mention that I can perfectly hear every single one of Captor's 'clicky noises' since we're in the same cluster.

??: what kind of fucking drug cartel king pin would do something dumb like that  
??: and still be taken seriously  
??: like yes sir I'll pay you 14k by next friday  
??: would you like some glade candles as well  
??: yeah that would be great why the fuck not  
??: actually glade candles are pretty cool  
??: like you're burning just chemicals and wax and cotton  
??: but it smells so damn good  
??: you know like those febreze ads  
??: and they take you into a dark dingy room and blindfold you  
??: cuz thats not kinky as fuck or anything  
??: and they make you smell shit but honestly febreze wears off after an hour or so  
??: but all you have to do is buy a motherfucking candle and your house smells good for the whole damn day  
??: and its like subtle too  
??: like febreze you can smell it like harsh and clear in the air  
??: you walk into a house and you immediately know bam this fucker tried to make his house smell good  
??: hes probably having a midlife crisis  
??: hes being financially drained because the college savings for his children ran out  
??: and now to constrain the budget hes buying cheap febreze  
??: his working wife divorced him once he had an affair with the former maid who used to keep the house smelling good the normal way  
??: plus she's pissed because her cheap husbands a fan of this shitty ass febreze  
??: ha imagine if there was ass febreze  
??: how to not have a sexual life ™  
??: now hes desperately trying to fund his family on a single income  
??: he still wants custody of the kids but hes gotta prove hes capable  
??: meanwhile his wife grieves and becomes depressed  
??: starts buying drugs  
??: timaeus makes a shit ton of money  
??: buys glade candles  
??: the house smells like it belongs to someone with some actual class  
??: i take it back im thankful as fuck for febreze  
??: if it werent for febreze us scary drug dealers wouldnt have the money to finance our high end fancy glade candles  
??: they smell rich and nice  
??: and theyre pretty  
??: except the apple cinnamon is red colored which kinda sucks  
??: actually once my housemate started putting vanilla extract in the oven every so often  
??: it smelled damn good  
??: only you get fairly tired of vanilla after a while   
??: so i put in cocoa powder once instead  
??: it burned  
??: and smelled like shit  
??: his reaction was pretty amusing though to be fucking honest  
??: his face scrunches up in all these very particular ways  
??: its fun to watch though cuz its like he never runs out of anger  
TT: Timaeus buys glade candles? Is he your housemate?  
??: look whos being nosy  
??: nosy rosy ha  
??: how the fuck would timaeus ever have the aesthetic sense to buy a glade candle  
TT: Why is it that if I leave for a few seconds whilst conversing, I'm guaranteed to find a long tangential monologue on several different irrelevant topics upon my return? Does it not inconvenience you in your busy schedule to type and/or speak endless steams of half-formed vernacular at every conceivable moment?  
??: why is it that youre always spewing dumb wordy bullshit  
??: does it not inconvenience you in your busy schedule to type and or speak endless streams of half formed vernacular at every conceivable moment  
??: you know how long and unnecessarily pointlessly arduous your sentences are to read  
??: which i say because i can't decide between the words unnecessarily and pointlessly  
??: both apply magnificently to how arduous your sentences are to read  
??: its a christmas miracle  
TT: You say that as if you don't enjoy it, when in fact your continuity of maintaining conversation refutes this conclusion.  
??: then stop jumping to those conclusions like this is fuckin leap frog  
TT: Ah. I'm touched.  
??: what  
??: youve officially lost my interest in trying to keep up with this asinine bullshitery  
TT: To reword, you're pretty bad at showing people you care about them.  
??: are you complaining because stop complaining  
??: i was the one complaining you cant just suddenly make it be you complaining thats not fair  
TT: It was a simple observation.  
??: well you can take your simple observations  
??: and go to hell  
??: snooty wannabe psycho-analysist  
TT: Are you sure that's a thing that exists?  
??: in your case it now does exist  
??: youre welcome  
TT: You... have my gratitude?  
??: damn right I do  
??: so will I see you later or not  
TT: I was under the impression I had no choice in the matter.  
??: you dont  
TT: Ah. In that case, no, you won't, I'll be busy and you'll have to work it through today without me.  
??: sweet see you there  
TT: Wait. Don't leave.  
??: ok?

TT: Any luck yet?  
TG: lol ur doin a great job rose :)  
TG: or it could just be his tendency to never shit up  
TG: shit up is exactly what I meant to say there  
TG: but nah no luck  
TG: this guy is trying everything but nothing seems to work  
TG: he did get a funny message though  
TG: or sveveral

TT: Will this be another full-day event?  
??: uh I dunno maybe  
TT: I actually am a little busy.  
??: see the thing is  
??: when youre in this kind of line of work rose  
??: youre not allowed to have a life outside of it  
??: sorry but just telling it how it is  
??: so in the gentlest way possible  
??: i dont give a fuck

I pause and scroll back up through his conversation to set my finger on something I'd noticed.

TT: Do you dislike the color red?

\-- anonymous  [??]  ceased pestering tentacleTherapist  [TT] at 8:42 --

"Whoops," I mutter under my breath. Captor's noise of frustration drifts over from somewhere behind me.

TT: Hm. My apologies.

\-- anonymous  [??]  did not receive message from tentacleTherapist  [TT] at 8:42 --

\-- tentacleTherapist [TT] ceased pestering anonymous [??] at 8:43 --

I lean back in my chair, my breath leaving my mouth in a surprised flurry. "He blocked me," I state, incredulous. It'd been a fairly simple question. Was I missing something?

"Keep it documented," Roxy mumbles to me.

"Oh, please," I mutter. "It's documented fine. It clearly says, right here. 'Anonymous did not receive message'." I turn my chair around to face the two of them, Captor's face scrunched up in concentration as he peruses some script on his monitor. "Tell me we were getting closer, so I know we have a chance."

Roxy turns to grin at me. "We were gettin' closer and we have a chance," she says, laughing.

I roll my eyes at the sarcasm. We're more like best friends than superior and subordinate. "Thank you so much."

Her gaze turns serious again. "Seriously, though, keep these conversations in the logs. You know how important organization..." she trails off, her eyes lingering on the mess that sometimes resembles my desk if you look at it from the right angle. "Well, it's important."

I smirk a little and turn back to our conversation online.

TT: And what were these messages?  
TG: a giant-ass monologue that popped up over his entire screen lul  
TG: it was all in red the same color your boyfriend types in  
TT: My boyfriend? What prompts you to assign him such a title?  
TG: because yall are cute  
TG: wonk  
TG: but thats a shame cuz the fuckers goin to jail  
TG: if u date him rose im gonna have to question uour morals  
TT: Don't worry, my intentions are far from it.  
TT: As you said, the fuckers goin' to jail.  
TG: damn right he is  
TT: What did he say?  
TG: lmao it was literally just a rlly long rant  
TG: i think it started as somethg telling us to eff the fuck off  
TG: but it just got longer and funnier  
TT: I wouldn't be surprised if it was written by him.  
TG: actually captor thinks its all just a bunch of random shit the program pulls out of his normal dialogue and it pops up on the screen  
TG: just something to repeat random shit hes already said  
TG: totally clevver :p ya dont have to spend hours writing a message to all the ileet hackrzz  
TG: said eliteness of our hackrz will eventually prevail though  
TG: dont worroy hahahahahahs  
TT: I'm pleased to know we're at least on track.  
TG: sooooo on track  
TT: I should be preparing for later today, though. I'll take my leave of this conversation.  
TG: byeeeeee rosey <3  
TT: I'll be in touch later.

\-- tentacleTherapist [TT] ceased pestering tipsyGnostalgic [TG] at 8:48 --

Knight doesn't cotton to being late. I shove some papers around to find the bag that contains the attire I wear for these kinds of times, slinging it over my shoulder so I can change in the rooms we use to suit up before going out into the field. I turn my head to the left to look at Captor as I lean over my chair to close some windows on my monitor.

"Were you planning on introducing yourself any time soon?" I call out, trying my best not to let my sarcasm show. Respect for authority is, frankly, not my strong suit.

He pauses and glances over at me with instinctive disdain. Hm. I decide it's perhaps not a bad first impression. "Sollux Captor. Boss of your boss. Pleased to meet you," he growls out curtly.

I grin a little. He's not bad. Studying his body language, I can tell he doesn't actually feel like he needs to demand my respect, and that he's just perturbed by Knight's uncrackable anonymity. I'm going to have fun with him. "See you," I say with false cheeriness to Roxy, who of course responds with genuine enthusiasm. I ignore her as she spreads out her arms for a hug and turn to leave.

-

"Short notice or not, look who's here before the party's arrived." I glance to my right to see the source of the voice, recognizing Knight's clear deep monotone. There he is, standing in all his black-clad shade-faced glory. Several more men accompany him, respectfully keeping their distance from both him and me. Their guns loom dangerously, safety permanently off, which never fails to put me on edge. But they've always given both Knight and me a wide berth. I'm still trying to figure out the specific reason he's so respected - or feared. Maybe both.

"Good morning, party," I say slyly. He smiles drily and gives me a fake bow.

"Fancy seeing you here, Bishop." It was a joke we had together, about how neither bishops nor knights moved straight on a chessboard. Funny to call each other that, given that our relationship had touched borderline flirting plenty of times in its duration. Not to mention Knight's never explicitly told me his sexuality - but he's been stuck with the name since before I knew him and he's going to have to live with it.

"Why? Am I in the wrong place? I must have taken a wrong turn somewhere along the endless miles of unpaved road." The place we've arrived is firm ground dotted sparsely with palms here and there, with the suburbs within view not too far off.

He shrugs at my complaint, unfazed. "Sucks," he deadpans, glancing at his watch. Then he looks up at me again, perched on the hood of my sleek black car. "Nice suit," he comments, staring lower than he should be.

Really, the leggings and leather jacket don't actually draw his attention in that way, and we both know it, but he makes some comment about my choice of dress every meeting. "Thank you. I wore it just for you." I wink at him. Then I slide off the car and stretch. "What are we here for?" I ask, directing the conversation to the business at hand.

Knight turns around and leans against my car. "Collecting a couple hundred from some bloke." Something's definitely on his mind. It's even more obvious now than it was in our online conversation.

I raise my eyebrows skeptically. "These many people for something so benign?"

His mouth twists sourly. "We may or may not have a short flight afterwards."

Oh.

I take the news in stride, but I'm brimming with pure annoyance.

"So it is a full-day event," I say, pursing my lips.

He shrugs and puts spreads his hands sideways so the palms face me. "Guess you're stuck with me."

I cast him a sideways glance. "I guess I am," I say, smirking a little. Truthfully, part of me isn't even sure why we do this charade, but there's the other part of me that definitely notices his defined jawline and smooth platinum hair, the same color as mine. The almost shy quirk to his lips.

Too bad the fucker's goin' to jail.

The sound of a truck draws my attention away from Knight's face as I turn to my left. Knight doesn't budge an inch from his casual stance leaning against my car. An old dark-green vehicle is rumbling toward us. I squint at it in the sunlight as it draws steadily closer, as if apprehensive. It stops roughly a hundred yards away and someone steps out of the passenger side.

Knight juts his chin toward a bulky man who passes on the gesture to another two. The three together start walking calmly toward the truck. As I watch, two men exit from seats closer to the vehicle's back and approach us as the first man to exit stands and observes.

It's rather boring to watch, actually. Our buyers uneventfully pass a briefcase to Knight's men, who nod at the former and turn back around. The two parties diverge. The largest of our three sets the briefcase down on my car as Knight turns around, brushing his long, pale fingers over its edges.

I'm still watching the others, though. The two men have reached their ride again and have withdrawn back into their truck, but the first man still stands as their engine starts. I hear the locks click open on the briefcase, but my attention is on the silhouette a hundred yards away.

He starts to raise his arm, and I know immediately what's about to happen. I don't even think. I whirl around on the balls of my feet and stretch one leg forward, finding traction between my boot and the hood of my car and using it to propel myself over its width. I slam into Knight and tackle him to the ground, although he's smart; he knows what's up and immediately pulls me to my feet and starts running.

Two literal seconds later, the wind is sucked out of my lungs as pure force grips hold of me and flings my body forward. Knight's muscled arms wrap around my waist and my shoulders as he turns his body. I hit the ground on my left side, dirt and dry grass scraping as my leg hits the trunk of a palm tree. Dull pain pricks at my skin where it's been chafed against the ground, but nothing too bad. The heat passes mostly over us, but my mouth feels as if it's drying up. My ears ring from the shock. I jump to my feet with Knight by my side.

"You good?" he mouths, his expression set impassively but his concern betrayed by his tense, defensive stance. I flick my head at him, dismissing it. Actually, I think I'm bleeding from somewhere on the side of my stomach and definitely from my shoulder, but I know it's nothing serious. I squint through the sunlight at the dark green truck, driving away, and make for my car, but Knight grabs my arm and pulls me into his own with him. Just as well. The bomb has wrecked my hood. Whoops.

"Gun it," I command him, just because I know it annoys him. He doesn't acknowledge my comment, doing just that. My shoulders are pushed back into the seat and my hair whips across my face as I struggle to reach for the button to close the roof of his black convertible.

Knight is the most haphazard driver I have _ever_ known. He swerves around trees dangerously, accelerating with reckless abandon until we reach the point that the tiniest rock or bump over the ground threatens to flip us over. It takes everything in me not to smack him and get my own hands on the wheel. I study his face as we draw closer to the truck, taking note of his tight jaw and the downward tilt to his lips. He's annoyed and probably a little disappointed. I can't say I'm surprised; every once in a while we get a noncompliant customer, and although it's rare, occasionally they try to kill us rather than pay up. I know he hates doing this, though, even if he refuses to admit it, perhaps to himself as well. I feel a flicker of pity, but quickly push it down. Criminals are criminals. Even those born into a life they don't want have the option of seeking help, redeeming themselves.

"What exactly is their history?" I yell over the roaring wind and through the incessant ringing in my ears. Bombs are _obnoxious._

His eyes flick to me. He wears his shades so close to his face, even from the side I can't see what color his eyes are. "Ephedrine, this one." He winces a little as he pushes one shoulder up to his ear, trying to diffuse the ringing. "We tend not to give out the raw shit, even if you can't technically count ephedrine pills as raw. But he promised to pay us well. Guy just likes to make his own meth. But it's cool, just gotta get the money and he can go." I can tell that that's not all there is to it - Knight's worried.

He's worried that he'll have to kill today.

I try to avoid shooting to kill in these operations if I can, but drug cartels are nastily run by ruthless criminals, and if I need to fit in with them I can't be squeamish about a few lives lost in light of a 'greater good'. Roxy employed me specifically for this reason; despite being near the top of the CIA, she can't shoot people without tearing up at least a little, and that kind of behavior is sure to fuck you over with these kinds of people. I don't really care much about who I have to hurt... but it definitely doesn't mean I enjoy doing so. Knight dwells in his silence as we slowly come level with the green truck.

He eases up on the accelerator and the window shatters as it's hit with gunfire. He swears and ducks, fumbling to get a proper grip on his semi-automatic. I can hear the sound of the other two cars of ours returning fire, but the enemy bullets keep hitting the side of our car so I doubt they've met their target. "Let me shoot," I murmur, my voice calm and low. Knight fires a few shots before letting the truck pull ahead. He knows I'm a good shot; he's never questioned it, though, for which I'm thankful. Telling him I have CIA training would not go over well.

He's muttering a constant stream of swear words and other ramblings that I can barely hear. The ringing starts to subside, but everything is still blending into a dull cacophony in the background of what's actually happening. We race up on the truck's left, and I have a chance to study the driver.

And I hesitate.

It's a young boy. He's only about nineteen, thin and pale and sweating, and a silhouette in the passenger seat is holding a gun to his head. Tears are running down his face, and he looks so scared I'm surprised he hasn't already become unresponsive with shock. 

"Give me my money, shitdick," Knight yells across the gap, as I just sit there. I said I don't mind the killing, but... this boy has a whole life in front of him. He's still likely in school. He has dreams and ambitions he should follow through. And now he's been pulled into something that he should never have to experience. Even if he does live through this, it will change him forever.

 _This is why you do what you do, Rose,_ I tell myself, steeling myself to take the shot. Our uncooperative buyer obviously is experienced at managing hostage situations. I can't get a shot at him, I can't even shoot to graze. _You either kill one innocent today, or they kill fifty tomorrow._

"Rose!" Knight hisses at me, as a bullet destroys his dashboard. "Are you having a fucking stroke? Because if you are then now is _not_ the time and you need to cut that shit out because even if you were, we are A, trying not to become riddled with bullets like practice dummies at a shooting range, and B, nowhere near a hospital so it would be really annoying if you decided you want to die right now-"

I extend my arm and pull the trigger. The bullet flies straight and powerful as the recoil jerks my arm back, my chest hollow. How many lives will be claimed until I'm finally good enough to prevent this?

It drills straight through the front of the boy's neck and into the neck of the man behind him.

The truck keeps running. The bullet tears through his throat, blood flying as it shreds his carotids. His face spins to the right side, and I'm thankful I only have to see the back of his head as the rest of his weight pulls him to the left. He slumps down, his back tearing on the tips of shattered window. I catch the other side of his face right before it sinks below the line of the window.

I blink away the guilt threatening to crush me from inside. I agreed to protect my cover at all costs, but... this is going a little too far. This is involving kids now.

The boy's arm pulls his steering wheel to the left and the truck veers suddenly in front of us, barely making the turn before it flips from the momentum. The skull-shattering sound of crushing metal, breaking glass, and screaming tires erupts through the air as Knight manipulates the pedals to safely halt our ride. The inertia pushes my body forward, my mind still trapped in the moment of the boy's death. My fault. My fault. My fault. My arms fly up to defend my face as my ribs crash into the dashboard, shards of desecrated plastic pushing into my diaphragm and pulling my breath out in harsh gasps.

The truck rolls, slowly losing momentum as we skid sideways, shrieking to a stop as the truck completes one more turn.

The sudden silence in the air as our other two cars pull to a stop is suffocating. My face betrays nothing as I glance at Knight - his is the perfect image of impassiveness. There's the faint noise of slamming doors as our men step out to survey the wreckage.

"Come on," Knight says, reaching for the handle of his door. "We still need money. If we don't get it I'm gonna be forced to track down this fucker's entire network and that ain't fun."

He pauses to glance back at me when I nod but don't move.

"We still have a flight after this."

I don't even acknowledge him this time.

He's silent for a couple more moments, which is new. Knight is only silent when he feels guilty. Together at least, we've never killed anyone this young, but I'm surprised that someone of such high status, in whatever this cartel's social hierarchy is, can still feel this much remorse. It reminds me of how human Knight is, despite what he does. And for the first time in this entire operation, I start to doubt if he really is the enemy. _Of course he isn't. Timaeus is. Knight is a stepping stone._

I don't want to use Knight as just a stepping stone.

"Hey," he mumbles. I glance at him, an expression of mild curiosity painted on my face. "I'm sorry too." Then he steps away from the car.

I'm not going to follow him.

I don't want to see the boy's face again, because the last expression I'd seen him wearing had been one of _relief._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> bluhhhhhhh  
> please comment!!! I really do get really happy when I get to read them.  
> Thanks to Liz for helping me edit and stuff
> 
> I might get rid of the grey background on the pesterlogs, just because they're not very mobile friendly.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lucky you, you get a double update today. I was trying to post these all at once last night but apparently it was too long so I had to split it into two chapters - so here, enjoy a filler chapter

The front seats of the truck are a mess of blood. I appreciate Rose's fine-tuned skill with guns; she's never missed in all the time that I've known her. I do wish she hadn't aimed for the arteries, so that maybe there wouldn't be so _much_ of the liquid everywhere. But killing is always a messy business.

I fucking hate it.

I close my eyes, because I don't want to see the red, I don't want to see it. I don't _want_ to do _any_ of this. The three people in the back seat are all unconscious.

One of them stirs a little, so I shove my fingers into his neck, against his pulse, until the lack of blood flow to his brain forces him back into his subconscious. "Sweet dreams," I mumble. A couple of my men stand behind me with their guns readied as I bend down to search our buyer. He's of average weight leaning on the heavy side, with a thick crop of reddish brown hair. I don't care to look at his face. He was a despicable person lacking morals. His death deserves no recognition.

Eventually my fingers find his wallet. I pull it out, turning to the sunlight, and flip it open. There are forty hundred-dollar bills crammed into it, and nothing else. "Bastard," I mutter, but I'm thankful I don't have to fucking track down and murder all his associates. I've had to do such on multiple occasions before and there's _nothing_ I hate more.

It's the fear in their faces as they realize I've caught up to them. It's the knowledge in their eyes that they've fucked up, and because it's the Veil rather than anything else, there's not a single chance I could show them mercy. 

I wish I could, how I wish I could. I wish I could keep it all bark and no bite, use just reputation to get what Timaeus wants. But reputation has to be built on immorality and maintained on blood. And Timaeus believes too much in never fucking up.

Paleontology has never seemed like a sweeter dream. Or a less attainable one.

Instead, I'm stuck doing _this_ for the rest of my miserable life.

"Sir," someone says. I close my mouth, my toungue dry, as I realize it's probably less from the bomb and more from mumbling to myself out loud. I snap my head to face him and he bows it respectfully. They're so afraid of me.

And this is uncharted territory for them.

I chastise myself for losing my cool. _Life sucks. Get over it._ Kids die all the time. The infant mortality rate in North Korea is 33%.

I snort as I push past them and stalk back toward my car. "Welcome to the life of Knight. Comparable to the social standings that are common in the worst country in the fucking world." Rose waits behind the windshield, every tiny muscle in her face under control. She's so much like me, except that when it comes to it, she can be brutal. I draw so much strength from her.

She raises her eyebrows, the perfect picture of what I should be, which is not freaking out over murder. She must be too though, inside. She just hides shit better. "We're going to leave this wreckage here," she states flatly.

I roll my eyes. "You know the answer to that question," I mutter, bending to check the tires. They're worn down, but they'll hold. As if we could do jack about the wreckage. Also, I'm not feeling charitable enough to help the people who just tried to blow me up.

My phone buzzes in my pocket as I step back inside my car and settle my feet on the peddles. Flaring with annoyance, I check my ongoing conversation with Timaeus. He found some way a while ago to prevent us from closing the log. Control freak.

TT: Have you boarded yet?  
TG: no we fucking havent  
TG: will you calm your shit  
TT: I'm a busy man who runs on a tight schedule, Dave.  
TT: Tell me where you are so I can send her to your location.  
TG: yeah  
TG: a tight schedule of catching your next anime stream  
TG: and im perfectly capable of telling her myself  
TT: Then do it quickly.  
TT: The plane's already in the air. Make sure you're in a clear space.  
TG: i KNOW

I clench my jaw briefly before forcing myself to relax. Rose picks up on shit like that with the speed of the solar fucking winds. The quickness of her observation at its worst is somewhere around Mach 5.

\-- turntechGodhead  [TG]  began pestering cuttlefishCuller  [CC]  at 10:12 --

TG: yo  
CC: Dave!  
TG: thats me  
CC: W)(ere are you dave? 38)  
TG: still here  
TG: were just waiting for you  
TG: some miles from the original planned meeting place  
TG: if you see the aftermath of an explosion  
TG: and then follow the skid marks to find a wrecked truck  
TG: bingo thats us  
CC: Oh my cod  
CC: W)(at did you do!!  
TG: kind of maybe killed a few people  
TG: that should not be a sentence anyone has to say ever  
CC: Dave! 38(  
TG: christ this life is fucked up  
TG: sorry peixes  
TG: to be fair they did try to blow us up  
TG: and we only killed two of them  
CC: T)(ats still not a good t)(ing!!  
CC: Are you okay?  
TG: fine  
TG: dont you have a plane to fly though  
CC: Yup 38D  
CC: See you dave!!!!

\-- cuttlefishCuller  [CC]  ceased pestering turntechGodhead  [TG]  at 10:19 --

I push air out in a huff through my nose before turning to face Rose. "We're gonna be here for a few more minutes."

She nods a little. "I can't contain my excited anxiousness to board your million dollar private jet."

I shrug, smirking. "It's the little things in life." She rolls her eyes. "Actually it's not that one this time, I don't think. We're not actually going that far, just close to the border. So, a smaller plane."

"I'm astonished that you would settle for such a downgrade. I thought we had standards, Knight. I'm disappointed," she continues, mocking the unnecessary extravagance. She props one elbow on the door's windowsill and leans her head into her hand so her thumb pushes into the hair above her ear. The side of her index wraps around her temple, the rest of her hand providing a visor from the sun as she peers at the truck wreckage.

I copy her movements, running my mouth because it's what I do best. "Well, shit, Bishop, sometimes you've just got to do things the simple way. Get in touch with the common man inside of you."

She cuts in. How rude. "Do you believe yourself to be a common man inside?"

I snort. "Obviously not. Even inside, I'm clearly too special to ever be considered common. My inner man is more of the princely sort."

"Aristocracy was often regarded with disdain."

"Nah, not disdain, jealousy. Everyone wants to be me," I say without missing a beat. Nothing could be further from the truth. No one wants to be me.

She waits for me to go on, but I haven't been feeling very chatty today in general.

"You should buy me a glade candle," I say half-heartedly.

"Are you going to tell me what's bothering you?" She asks carefully.

"Nah," I say.

What's bothering me is Timaeus and his habit of prying into my fucking life. His insistence on giving me short notice just so I have to come up with more and more explanations to Karkat. And the feeling I get that makes me wonder if Timaeus is just trying to find an excuse to give Karkat suspicion about my involvement with the Veil, so he can write him off to be murdered.

I'm thankful for the faint rumble to break the uncomfortable silence settling over us. I step out of the car and squint into the sky, scanning for the plane. Rose lifts herself out of her seat as well, shielding her eyes against the glare as she tries to find the source of the noise.

I spot it some ways north of us, pointing it out to Rose before hopping up so I'm sitting on the roof of the car. It's scalding, but I don't mind so much. It creates more distance between Rose's keen psychoanalyzing mind and me.

Feferi flies the plane over our heads and touches down a hundred feet away. As she eases to a stop, she circles around again to bring it closer to us. I jump down and stroll casually toward the plane as it slows.

It takes another couple minutes before Feferi opens the door. The stairs slide out, hitting the ground with a dull metallic thud, and I bound up the steel steps.

She wraps me in a hug, which admittedly always feels nice. I ruffle her hair as I pull away. "What took you so long?" I say, forcing myself not to smile.

"I got here as fast as I could! Move out of the way so everyone can get on," she says, beaming and giving me a light push.

The plane is pretty small, but at least it has walls and a roof. I had to ride one once that vaguely resembled the Wright Brothers' original canvas creation. It was a monstrous experience. This one only has about six total windows per side, but the inside is anything but compact, with sofas and tables and flat-screen tvs.

Feferi heads back to the cockpit as I take a seat across from Rose in a reclining leather chair. There's a bouquet of sweet-smelling flowers and a glass chessboard on the dark cherry maple table that sits poised between us. Feferi's interior decorating is always nice.

Rose nods at the chessboard. "Let's play."

I nod sagely, immediately tapping my finger over the head of my fourth pawn from the left. I'm playing black and it's in front of my queen. "I'm naming this one the mayor and if you kill him, justice will slaughter you. The embodiment of justice itself will literally march straight to your doors, blow them to smithereens with a mere gaze of concentrated anger, and then waste no time in bringing your house down. It will then proceed to locate your squarely decimated body, serve your ass to you on a silver platter with a lacey doily made of gold leaf, and thereafter will promptly proceed to banish your soul to the depths of nothingness.

"You soul will make a home in that nothingness, until it decays into nothingness, becoming unto itself until every threatening intent toward my mayor has been justly, nobly fucking obliterated to the point where no tentative, spiteful voice will so much as dare to whisper the word 'wasted' and risk acknowledging thy death, for to do so would be the utmost folly, for to do so would mean he were affiliated with evil and poisoned with malice, and if such malice were to so much as graze the thought of touching my mayor, he would meet the same dire end. Thou doth have been a cankerblossom to have the gall to even consider such a foul pursuit."

"Alright, Shakespeare, feeling better now, are we?" She murmurs, opening the game by moving the pawn in front of her castling-side knight one space. The plane begins to roar around us as its momentum increases, and by the time it's her turn again we're airborne.

Admittedly, my head isn't in the game much outside of making a point to protect my mayor with every resource I have access to. I take a bishop in the process, and she immediately moves her other one across the entire board to capture my knight. I shrug and knock it off the board as my rook shifts to take the space. She then takes the pawn that had been previously protected by my rook, with her queen this time. I hesitate before moving my second knight to protect my rook.

I watch as she sets up a perfect checkmate, all the while steadily moving my mayor forward.

She's two moves away from mating me when I realize I haven't been checked yet, and so, just to fuck with her, I do some last minute castling. My rook suddenly skewers her knight against her king opposite the board, the pawns having been long ago captured. She glances up at me, probably reading some asinine presumptive bullshit into my chess strategies. _Psychologists._

"All the knights are under my control," I say smugly. She tsks at me and pushes her king into the corner, unpinning the knight.

After a few more minutes, the mayor is one square away from ascension to divine power. Her rooks are out of the way, although her remaining bishop is also one move from sealing my checkmate.

"Why haven't you moved your damn queen," she says flatly, her lips pursed so I know she's annoyed.

I flash her a quick smile and tentatively move my mayor forward. "The mayor has been crowned as all powerful," I claim. "The mayor has now risen to a new rung on its ladder of personal achievement, titled queen, and is the new lover of the king's ex-wife. Don't touch my lesbian mayor queens." Then, I add, "also, check-motherfuckin-mate."

She frowns, moving her bishop to take my newly coronated mayor.

And that's it.

She's gone to far.

" _Dieeeeee_ ," I hiss in the angriest tone I can muster, pushing my queen across the board in milliseconds so it connects with her last bishop and sends it flying into her lap. Her lips move into a half pout.

Her king can move to one place out of the queen's line of attack, as permitted by her very first move, but she realizes that my remaining knight is guarding the exact spot.

"How did I not see that?" She mutters. The knight has no protection, and she could have killed it ages ago. Now, though, with her king in check, she's forced to accept that it's a mate.

She sniffs, moving her queen into the spot where my queen had formerly been gathering dust, announcing, "it's a stalemate."

I lean over the chessboard and grin at her. "Yeah, bullshit. White goes first, but I won first. I used less moves than you, and I have mated your ass into submission, Bishop."

She swats my arm. "Watch the innuendo, sir Knight! A pure innocent lady like myself may get the wrong impression."

"Oh, don't worry, he's always like that," Feferi calls from up front. I laugh a little through my nose.

"Yes, I know," Rose says coyly. "His capricious bravado speaks for itself to his various likely internal conflicts."

"I'd say my bravado, if you can even _call_ it that, is in fact exceptionally well-rounded and always consistently providing equal pleasure and service without discrimination. I run a twenty-four hour gig here. Knight's auto self-aggrandizing life update services. We're a multi-million dollar corporation looking to outsource soon to bring you more than ever before. Thank you, globalization."

"No, Knight," Feferi laughs from the front. "You're very moody and unpredictable. But it's okay! If you want to talk about it I'm always here to listen."

I let out a frustrated groan, throwing my head back against the seat and wrapping my arms around my face. "Why is everyone trying to get me to _talk about shit_ today??? Give this poor man a break from the police interrogation. I've told you all I can tell you. I didn't do it, and I don't know who did, but take it as an anonymous tip that you might want to check under the supports of that one ridiculous house. You may or may not stumble across some beat-up looking men and when you do..." I suddenly lose track of my words, wincing as a memory comes to mind. I steady my pulse, inhaling slowly and holding for a couple seconds before breathing out again. Green, imagine the color green.

When I lower my arms, Rose is considering my face. I adjust my shades and do my best to glare at her through them. She catches the hint and changes the topic.

"Do you have alcohol?" she asks abruptly. I feel a spark of surprise.

"Wow, Ro-Bishop, on a plane? What do you think?"

She winks at me. "No, that can wait until we're on the ground and alone. I meant the rubbing kind, though I'm skeptical about the probability that those engaging in such a hazardous occupation as this would possess the forethought to stock such an everyday household commodity in even the most expected of places."

"Well," I say, "your skepticism is well placed. We rag-tag supercriminals are too egoistic to risk something so mundane as an infection. We're Aladdin dressing as a sultan, all the petty thieves below us. _They_ can worry about infections and food and water. We've got the magical genie of being wanted by the law, and he protects us from menial bacteria."

I can almost feel Feferi rolling her eyes at me from the front of the plane. "Bishop, there's a first aid kit up here if you'd like to use it." Rose stands and walks stiffly toward the cockpit, probably more sensitive to her injuries now that any remaining adrenaline has been sapped by our chess game. I pick up the frosted glass pawn I'd designated as the mayor, before deciding to tuck it into my pocket. Then, for the irony, I grab a black knight and shove it into my jacket as well.

I lean back and decide it can't hurt to nap a little. Rose has settled into the copilot's seat, dabbing at her shoulder while watching Feferi pilot the plane with a hawk-like gaze. I'm guessing she's learning to pilot for any possible future use.

I appreciate that about her. Everything she sees, she stores away. She's sharp and quick-witted, and while I don't consider myself intellectually below her, I'm much better at conveniently forgetting things I shouldn't forget.

I let my eyes close and I drift off.


	5. Chapter 5

I don't know how long I sleep, just that it's probably under an hour, which is the bare minimum for a decent nap, and that we're descending when I wake up. I jump off the seat and stride toward the cockpit, placing one hand on the shoulder of either seat as I gaze out the glass to see the approaching ground. Rose glances up at me.

"You're our top security person thing, Fef," I start, pausing to yawn. "Give us the rundown. What should I be expecting here?"

She grins at me before turning back to the windows. "John and Jade have already done their part. There are some middle men who're holding the cargo. They passed through access point 53 a couple days ago, got through national security without a hitch. 400 pounds of cocaine, should be coming through in three different trucks. Be careful, though. We've gotten wind that a third party may be involved. If so, that could present potential danger for you. Other than that, I'm sure you'll do fine!!" She glanced back and smiles encouragingly at me.

I nod, considering. I don't understand why a third party would be involved, I really don't. Some naive fool gets it in his head that he can fool the most powerful drug network in the Latin American world. Clients try to double cross us. And then they die. Why are people so stupid?

I know, of course, that I'm the reason many of these situations occur. When someone finds out they're about to meet an inside man in person, they think that if they can just get their hands on me, they can deal a blow to the cartel. It's complicated, though. I have to be careful not to let on that I'm actually Dirk's brother. It's always possible that someone has realized, that information has leaked. After all, all I'd have to do is stand next to him. We look rather alike.

Timaeus almost never shows his face, though. He's all about scheming in the shadows. Most of our enemies only know that I'm high up in the Veil's social hierarchy, with a lot of influence, and that despite this, for some reason, I still run the more menial errands: picking up deliveries, harrowing buyers for paying up on debt, murdering people who've gotten on our bad side. The murdering is only ever on Timaeus's orders. Everything else I do to stay as far away from central operations as possible, with the added bonus of pissing him off. In the long run he gives me more people to kill as a result, but I figure if they're gonna die anyway, it's a small price to pay.

So small disturbances like these I'm generally fine with, since they annoy Timaeus. He asks me how something went, I say it went smoothly, and then he finds out someone sabotaged a plane or burned down a rendezvous point. They're kinks in his perfectionist ideals, and while they weigh on him and irritate him, they offer me room to breathe.

The plane touches down and slows to a stop. Feferi stands and hugs me. "I'll be waiting here for you!" she grins. "Try to keep the body count down!! Killing will land you on the naughty list."

"Can't risk that, so close to Christmas," I say seriously.

"It's July, Knight," Rose says flatly.

"Bishop, you just fuckin live to spoil my fun."

We leave the plane to find ourselves surrounded by an empty stretch of dry, cracked dirt in all directions. There's a small cluster of shops and apartments about a mile away. I sigh. "Hey, fef," I call at the open plane door. "I don't suppose you could have landed us any closer? It's distasteful to walk a mile in this much fuckin heat."

"Sorry, Knight!" She yells back. "Can't. Go on, you grub."

I groan and turn on my heel. The air here is swirling with dust and heat waves, mirages shimmering over the single lane road that leads toward the small establishment. Rose smirks up at me. "I'm surprised that you, of all people, would have trouble with high temperature atmospheres."

I snort. "Why are you always hitting on me?"

She smirks. "I can't help myself. I must have a weakness for extravagant douches."

"And we're back to the insults, then."

We chatter as we walk toward the town. Almost always, there's a ride for me, waiting wherever I go. I pull out my phone and check with Feferi.

\-- turntechGodhead  [TG]  began pestering cuttlefishCuller  [CC]  at 12:03 --

TG: so why isnt there a sweet limo or Maserati or some shit waiting to take me and my burly entourage to this tiny horror movie ghost town  
CC: Its not a g)(ost town!!! T)(ere are people living there beautifully  
CC: Although, im not shore. Dont you usually have a car?  
CC: I thought it seemed fishy  
TG: damn right i usually have a car  
TG: even a fucking honda would have done this heat should be illegal  
TG: sent to jail for rising past the standard limits for how hot any one place can be at times when they are being visited by dave strider  
TG: actually its not too bad im just upset we didn't get a fucking car  
CC: Im sorry dave!!! You could check with timaeus  
TG: alright

\-- cuttlefishCuller  [CC]  ceased pestering turntechGodhead  [TG]  at 12:07 --

TG: k so why didnt i get a car this time  
TT: It's one mile, Dave. You can walk.  
TT: You also managed to total the last car.  
TT: It came back in three separate pieces.  
TG: tear  
TT: The driver who was supposed to meet you at the touchdown site has been killed.  
TG: whoa really  
TT: Exercise caution.  
TG: dont i always  
TT: That's debatable.

I shove my phone back into my pocket as the buildings draw nearer. 

As we enter the area, the road branches out. On either side are market stalls and tall, weathered buildings. The air is less dry here, and alive with the sounds of people chattering and walking and buying things. Far in the distance is the border, barbed wire stretching out to the east and west.

"Where are we headed?" Rose murmurs to me.

I shrug. "Timaeus said something earlier this morning about some dude's garage, but I didn't pay attention since I'd expected to have a fuckin driver."

Rose gives me a pointed, slightly condescending look. Before she can say anything, a hooded figure catches my eye among the crowd. He's making his way directly toward us. I stop walking and let him come.

As he gets closer, I can make out his facial features. His hair is dark and curly, his nose at a sharp angle and his lips thin. "We've been expecting you," he says in a casual tone before nodding toward a stone path that leads away from the main road. I wait for him to move before following. It's always a good habit to make people walk in front of you, so if something happens they'll die first and you can run. Also, it's considered courteous, apparently, to let someone go first. I bet it only started being interpreted as a courteous gesture because some guy wanted to save his ass without seeming too rude and played it off as graciously letting other people go first, when in reality he was a selfish motherfucker.

In ten minutes we arrive in front of a row of garages and a line of people dressed in form-fitting clothing. I assume, with my top-notch, stunning skills of deduction, that they were responsible for the transport across the border.

I glance around. I don't like the surroundings. There are three total exits, two by paved road and one by the back alley from which we've just emerged. The roofs surrounding us are all several stories higher and all doors facing this courtyard are padlocked, except for one. It belongs to the only building with a first floor window facing us. I decide that must be where they've been waiting for us, so if I have to make a quick escape, it's not an option.

One man steps forward. He's wearing darkened transition lenses in rectangular frames. There's a light sunburn on his cheekbones, which are scattered with small freckles. His jawline is strong, like most of the rest of him. I decide I wouldn't want to piss him off. "Six million. Let's see the money."

"I'm not seeing my shipments, horse-face," I say testily. He nods at one of his men, who bends to the ground and hooks his fingers into the handle to a garage door. He pulls it up, revealing a single truck inside. I raise my eyebrows until he moves on to the next garage. Deciding to ascertain the validity of their claims, I push past the man in front of me and pull open the doors on the back of the first truck. Rose follows me.

Inside are shipments of what seem like carrots, at first glance. I pick up one container, which is already open, and pull out a thick orange bundle. Rose hands me a pocket knife. I flash her a smile.

"Always so prepared," I compliment. She raises an eyebrow. I slit open the orange binding and gaze at the white substance inside. It seems good to me, so I drop the false carrot back into the box and turn.

The man steps forward. "Time to make the transaction, Knight." I stiffen at his use of my nickname. If he knows who I am... Well, at least now I'm interested in seeing how this plays out.

I signal my main man, who comes forward with a briefcase. One other follows him, and they both prop the cases over their knees and flip open the tops so our transporter can see his payment. He nods.

I walk toward the second truck as the other man opens a third garage and open the doors, only to find that the inside is empty. The air immediately surges with the sound of cocking guns. I can feel the sudden tension in the atmosphere behind me as everyone aims at someone else. I smirk and turn slowly, raising my hands as I find myself face to face with our transporter's gun barrel.

"Ooh, let me guess," I drawl. "Get in the truck before we blow off a finger, or maybe a foot. We're gonna hold you for ransom, and since you're basically a god and everyone loves you, someone's going to pay and we're gonna get filthy rich. Then we're gonna blow off the money on gambling and sex and it's gonna be great. At the end of the day we're going to feel real fuckin accomplished with ourselves as we lie in some gutter with four new STD's and a hangover."

He steps forward and smacks the side of my head with his gun, which sends the world spinning. "Something like that. Get in."

"Nah," I manage. I catch Rose's eye as best I can through my shades as I regain my focus. She gets the message. Her hand darts to her gun and, quick as a flash, she shoots at our transporter's head.

He sees her moving and rolls, and then the air roars with gunshots. I decide to let my men fight for themselves and draw my own handgun. Before I can take proper aim at my target lying on the floor, he raises his arm and shoots at me blindly. The bullet clips my shoulder and clangs into the truck with an ear-shattering noise.

Fire races over my arm as I stumble to the side, hissing. My arm flexes against my will and the gun falls from my hands. Rose steps in front of me, shooting two bullets into his head.

And then things, miraculously, get worse. The building door I'd previously mentioned as being the only one unlocked suddenly bangs open and people pour out of the building, clad in dark purple. A chill races down my spine. This is the third party Feferi mentioned, and I know who they are. The Dersites.

I have no idea what the hell motivates the Dersites. I just know that they've sabotaged many of our operations and that they're annoying as hell - but also that they're to be taken seriously. I realize this is a perfect opportunity for them. Seize me, maybe kill me, track other important figures using me, take down the Veil. Probably get any and all information out of me they can.

I kneel, succumbing to the pain in my arm a little, and grasp my gun with my left arm, taking aim at the two nearest purple figures. I shoot one twice in the chest as the other drops with a clean bullet to the head from Rose. I swear as I pull my right shoulder back, trying like hell to ignore my screaming flesh.

Remembering the rooftops surrounding us, I glance upward and shoot at a figure crouching above me. Rose catches on and follows my lead, several bodies dropping from the roofs. I glance around, panicked. Almost half of my men are gone.

What I don't expect is for enemies to attack from _inside_ the garage. Which is dumb, because I should have figured that if they wanted me to get into the truck, they probably had at least a driver inside. Strong arms grab me from behind as I try to struggle to my feet, one going over my left shoulder to pin my shooting arm and one grabbing my right elbow and pulling backward so my wound stretches and grates against the fabric over his shoulders.

I scream a little through gritted teeth before slamming me left elbow into his side. He stumbles a little but doesn't release his hold on me. My eyes wildly search for Rose, only to find her busily engaged with two others. She's good, but she can't bail me out in time.

I hear a familiar noise - the uncapping of a needle. I struggle harder, except any movement sends searing spikes of agony from my right arm throughout my entire body, tightening every muscle in protest. I open my mouth to charm my way out of the situation as, horrified, I watch the two men with our money go down to a Dersite, who then picks up their briefcases and turns to me, ignoring the rest of the fighting.

"Watch it," I hiss. "I'm a fragile, delicate being. Must be handled with care. I break easily, you know, and I'm really valuable so you want me in one piece because quality control is a thing. Even if it's human trafficking, damaged items sell less, you know. Be cautious with your merchandi-aaaaaauughh." My right shoulder is suddenly twisted backwards, which makes me dizzy with the pain. The Dersite holding my money regards me skeptically.

"Shut him up," he growls. I realize I'm being held by two different people as a third arm slaps over my mouth and pulls my head to the left. I decide to steal some satisfaction from the fact that I need to be restrained by two people rather than one, watching as a Dersite steps forward from my right, holding a syringe with clear liquid.

Dersites wear masks, which makes it really annoying when you're trying to track them down. Panic floods my brain as I go completely limp in a last ditch effort to escape the needle. I hate drugs. _Hate_ them. The idea of being powerless, of being controlled by an outside force absolutely _terrifies_ me. Funny, considering the business I'm in, but, hey, give credit to the irony.

The needle pricks against the skin of my exposed neck as my senses override with fear. I strain with every fleck of willpower against the people holding me, but of course it's no use. My eyes search feverishly for Rose as the world starts to dim. She's stopped fighting, holding her phone and watching me resignedly as my eyelids start to droop. Maybe she called someone to help..? A Dersite pulls her arms behind her and she obliges, maybe to stay with me. I have to give her credit for her loyalty, and then I feel a little guilty for dragging her into more shit before every thought flies out of my brain like it's on concentrated Redbull.

Nothing except nothingness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> He'll be ok lol


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so this entire journey of Dave's hectic day was supposed to be in one chapter but it took four instead but..... yeah. Well, I hope you're not bored.

I wake to find myself in a bedroom with Rose on the bed beside me.

Allow me to amend that statement.

I find myself in a piss poor excuse for a room with no windows and a single, closed door. The only furniture is a single box bed in the middle of the room with a frame and a box, but no mattress. Rose is sitting on it, scrutinizing me, as I blink open my eyes, scrunching them open and shut several times. I'm on the hard floor with my arms stiff and unwilling to move from their position behind me. The room looks like it had previously been carpeted. Under me now is bare, unfinished wood.

My shades are still on, thankfully. The next, slightly less stellar revelation is that there's a cloth tied around my mouth. My reward for talking too much, I guess. I shift and groan, my arms hurting in their position. My wrists are secured to the leg of the bed frame with a fucking _zip-tie._ The indignity.

"Rise and shine," Rose says drily. I shake my head slowly, trying to diffuse what feels almost like a migraine. I turn to look at her. Her hands are free, which pisses me off.

"Hmph," is about all I can verbally convey, although there is a lot more I'd _like_ to say. Or, if my hands were free, a single gesture could have communicated the same message. Alas, they aren't. Fucking. Ugh.

She snorts a little at my terribly amusing predicament. "It's been very quiet," she says thoughtfully. God, I want to flip her off. "The door's locked. I decided not to attempt to force it open until you were awake."

 _Great, Rose. Thanks for the news update. Now, how about you help me out a little here?_ I try to shoot her a dirty look, but the lighting is dim and my shades spoil the effect. I twist to look at my arms behind me, before wincing because I've forgotten about the bullet graze on my shoulder. I should never have started treating her as an equal. Any other subordinate, and they'd have hurriedly freed me by now.

The sound of footsteps draw nearer from outside the door. Rose snaps her head up and rolls to the other side of the bed, quickly thrusting her hands behind her to make it seem as if she's bound the same as I am.

The door unlocks and swings inward, revealing a Dersite in the doorway. I make an effort to stay as still as possible. He leaves after a few seconds, locking the door again. Rose rises to her feet.

She walks around the bed and bends down next to me, sitting on the edge closest to me. "They've been checking on you every hour. I think it's about 7 o' clock now. I'd help you with your hands, but I can't reach. Do you have a watch?" I nod. Just because she can't reach around to my hands doesn't mean she can't remove the cloth around my mouth, but knowing her, she's probably fucking enjoying it. I'm going to kill her. Then I realize that they've taken my watch, and I shake my head.

She considers for a second. Then she climbs onto the bed and walks to stand towering over me, which is a new feeling. She dangles a safety pin over my head.

"Try to catch this," she says, dropping it behind me. I stretch out my fingers and feel the tip brush my ring finger on the way down. I whisk it up, fiddling with it in my hands. "Got it? Alright. The tail of the pin should fit through the plastic lock. Push it through, and then loosen the tie enough to free your hands."

She's wickedly smart and brilliantly resourceful, and it reminds me of why I like her so much. Timaeus doesn't trust her, since she's only been with us for about a year, but it's enough for me to understand that I, at least, need her. I do as she says. It takes roughly ten to fifteen minutes, and then my hands are free. I rip my left hand out and tear away the cloth around my mouth.

"Fuck you, Rose," I growl, my voice tight and raspy. "Fuck you all the way to hell and back. Like hell you couldn't reach. How'd they do this in the first place then??"

"Ooh, we even have a bed this time," she drawls. I flip her off, gritting my teeth. "They were carrying you. They tied you and then they dropped you. I watched. It was amusing."

"You're lucky I don't have a gun, Rose, or you'd be riddled with so many bullets people would slice you up and sell you as Swiss fucking cheese." I pause to cough, curling into myself. Everything is stiff and my wound is simultaneously numb and drenched in agony. She rises, and now, _now_ she offers me a hand.

"You'll want to stand up and move around. Increased blood circulation will wash the drug out of your body faster." I grab her hand and pull myself shakily to my feet.

"Shut up," I mutter, bending down to rest my hands on my knees.

I spend a few minutes stretching the soreness out of my limbs before sitting down on the bed with Rose. If it really is 7:00, or perhaps later than that now, Karkat's home. He'll be expecting me in a couple hours at the most, and there's just no chance I'm going to be there by then. I swear softly.

Rose raises her eyebrows. "Your sentiments are shared, but they aren't helping. We were driven about thirty miles from where Feferi left us. They're in possession of all three trucks of cocaine, so we can salvage the shipment. From what I can tell, there are maybe two people in the hallway outside."

I cut in. "We kick down the door, take their guns, fight our way to the trucks, and drive away. How do you know all this, anyway?"

She shrugs. "I played the dumb, awed blonde. My eyes were open the whole ride. Then, to stay with you, I fought against them as soon as we got down, claiming I needed to 'protect my brother.'"

As soon as she says those words, it sends a weird pang through me. I haven't considered it before, but looking at her now, I realize that we can easily be mistaken for siblings. And suddenly I wish she was so badly that it hurts. I could lead an entirely different life. I'd certainly stop her from joining up with a drug cartel, if I were her brother. And she'd be infinitely, _infinitely_ nicer company than Dirk. Then there's a small part of me that is repulsed and disappointed at the idea, because we've danced the line of flirting together many times in the past and she isn't exactly _bad_ -looking. Although, of course, if she were my sister, that'd only make sense...

"Anyway, although your brash plan is charmingly naïve enough to possibly lead to success, it's not an option. We're waiting for company," she continues.

I suddenly remember seeing her with her phone seconds before I lost consciousness. "You alerted someone," I recall, shutting down my Rose-as-my-sister thoughts. "Who?"

"Centaur." I wrinkle my nose. That troll is just predisposed to smell like old horse manure, but he makes for good muscle. Then I realize with cold fingers around my heart who else that would bring.

"That means the fish boys are coming too. Damn it, Rose!" I groan, pushing my face into my hands. I remember something else. "Centaur is visiting his fucking moirail right now! Who knows how long it will take him to actually read your message."

She nods. "I'm aware. That's why I'm expecting them soon. It's been six hours, and there's little probability they aren't at least on their way by now. I advised him to let Caligula know that there's a good chance Feferi's been compromised. That should get him moving."

I grin. "Yeah, it should. Desperate piece of shit. The only thing he knows how to do is blaze his guns, and the only thing his _brother_ knows how to do is be absolutely fucking useless. Hey, how are they going to find us, anyway?"

Rose furrows her eyebrows. "That'll be up to them. I blew up a car when we got here-"

"Holy fucking shit."

"- In the hopes they might see the aftermath of the explosion and investigate. If they figure it out, it'll lead them here. If not, at the turn of the next hour, you and I will attempt to flee."

I tilt my head to the side and straighten it again in an affirming motion. "Sounds fun."

Heavy, irregular footsteps sound from outside the door. Rose's eyebrows fly up in surprise, but we both scramble to our corners and I relax myself to feign unconsciousness. The door flies open. The sounds of muffled grunting fill the air as Dersites drag in three new people. Two of them are gagged, and the third, more muscled one walks calmly. I grin inside.

Equius watches as the Dersites secure both of the Amporas to the remaining two legs of the bed. I enjoy the glares he receives from both of them, and I'm fairly sure he does too. As soon the last Dersite attempts to pull his captive's arms to Eridan's bed leg, however, he rips them out of the Dersite's grasp and slams his boulder of a fist into the Dersite's head. The Dersite crumples. He makes astonishingly quick work of the other two, dealing a single blow to each before they even realize they're in trouble. Cronus is still yelling into his gag, and I roll my eyes as I pull myself to my feet. Eridan's cape is gone, and he looks pissed about it.

All of them are banged up and at least a little bloody, Equius less so. He strides into the hallway and slams the heads of the two watchmen together, possibly killing them both. Rose and I step forward and bend down to fiddle with the zip ties. Rose's pin is much easier to use when I can see what I'm doing, and I toss it to her in seconds.

Cronus wrings his hands and pulls his gag down. "Thank you, babe," he gushes, reaching up to caress my unamused face.

I grab his fingers and twist his wrist away from my cheek. "Don't touch me," I say.

"Owowowowowwww," he whimpers. "Okay, I got it, I'm sorry, I won't do it again, agh, please."

I release his fingers and stand. Rose holds up a cloth. "You forgot to place your gag back on when you pretended to be asleep," she croons. I grab it from her, ball it up, and chuck it at her face. She sidesteps gracefully and it hits Equius in the thigh. I can smell him from across the room.

"Let's go," I say, wrinkling my nose. "Thanks for showing up."

"Anything for you, darling," Cronus says. I turn to him and he cringes. "Sorry."

"You need to stop gettin' Fef into trouble all the time," Eridan scowls at me. "I spent hours on a valiant rescue mission to save the poor girl. And yet, she still insists on coming to get yyou. Not to mention this bafoon, always goin' on about orders and authority. If you weren't so special to Timaeus, you know-"

My bullshit meter fills up and I tune him out. "K," I say loudly, shoving past him and bending to pick the gun off of a fallen Dersite. The make is quite nice, although I generally don't prefer shotguns or rifles and this is certainly somewhere in the same league. They're reliable, but too bulky to run around with. "Didn't know these guys manufactured their own weaponry," I mutter, taking an experimental shot at Cronus. He yelps and jumps out of the line of fire as soon as I take aim. I snort.

"Boys, time to leave," Rose says, donning the mask of a Dersite. The five of us quickly disguise ourselves and I lead the way down the hallway side by side with Rose.

The interior of the building seems to be a kind of abandoned apartment complex mixed with a disorganized military encampment. There are maps pinned to the walls and rounds of ammunition draped over railings. I walk confidently forward. No one gives us a second look. We descend about seven flights of stairs before someone catches my attention.

I step into the hallway on this level and stand near a door, on the other side of which it seems several Dersites are conversing. One of them is dressed in black and has no mask. He seems familiar to me, but only his profile is visible and he's partially covered by a Dersite at the head of the room.

"Knight should be up by now," I hear. "How strongly did you load the sedative?"

Someone mumbles something from behind the wall.

A Dersite pushes past me into the room. "The trucks have been reloaded. The drugs will be on their way to the incinerator soon." I suck in a breath at that. Millions of dollars' worth, and they're going to _burn_ it?? And just how do they plan to go about simply _burning_ 400 pounds of drugs?

The head Dersite turns to acknowledge him, but his eyes lock onto me through his mask. I still my breathing. The mask doesn't fit very well over my shades, and I wonder if he finds that odd. I hope not. What do Dersites do when they have glasses and no contacts?

He starts to turn back to whomever he's addressing when Cronus conveniently causes a commotion behind me. I consider pushing him down the stairs, or running over him when we get to the trucks. "Call me," I hear, and suddenly a shout of pain. I whip my head around to see a Dersite with long, black, wavy hair and horns hidden under a hood twisting Cronus's arm. The Dersite who seems to have been leading whatever meeting is going on in the room storms out and pulls the two apart.

"Behave," he growls, and then frowns at Cronus's protruding horns. His eyes flit quickly from Cronus's horns to Eridan's. Equius is the only one with his hood pulled over his horns. Rose's blonde hair peeks out from under hers and frames her mask, and mine is off as well.

"It's him!" a voice from the room calls. "It's Knight!" I turn my gaze sharply to search for the voice, gripping my gun tightly and raising it to keep it trained on the leader Dersite. I stop when I see who Rose is aiming at, the speaker.

He's the one dressed in black rather than purple, the one I'd found familiar. I realize why now; he'd been one of the members of my team earlier today. Several possibilities form in my mind. I realize that there's a good chance that the transporters weren't involved with the Dersites, or that if they were, they weren't told much. The Dersites' link to the operation was this man instead, a mole, a traitor. Fury boils in my stomach.

As I'm distracted, the leader Dersite slams a knee into my gut, eliciting a choking noise from me. He spins my gun out of my lax grip into his left hand as he draws a pistol from his right, immediately then pushing my gun to my throat with his hand and right elbow as he taps the barrel of the pistol to my temple. At the same time, Rose shoots at the Dersites in the room as Eridan fires at anyone in the hall daring to come close, Cronus cowering between the three of us.

Dersites begin to flood through the door to engage us in combat, and Eridan isn't able to pick everyone off with his limited supply of ammunition. He's trying to use as few shots as possible, aiming carefully, but the downside is that it's slow. Equius moves to pry the leader Dersite off of me, but someone shoots at him and grazes his leg. He's strong, but doesn't have a terribly phenomenal pain tolerance, and he falls to his knees. Before I can suck in another breath, all five of us have guns pointed at our heads. I hope Cronus can feel my irritation toward him through my mask and shades. I am going to _destroy_ him.

"Well, well," says the Dersite, and with the voice so close to me I suddenly realize it isn't a he but a she. Her voice is deep and rich, enough so that when I'd been listening earlier I'd mistaken it for a male voice.

"Evening, Maleficent," I grunt. All she needs is a _what have we here?_

"Knight." Her charcoal eyes flicker to someone next to me, who then reaches up and pulls off my mask. My shades slide down a little and I stop straining against the gun at my throat for a moment to fix them. "In the flesh." I don't say anything to her. She's surprisingly strong. I'm pushing with all my strength, and the gun isn't even trembling. Any sudden moves, though, and I'll be dead, information or not, so I stand pinned to the wall struggling to figure out what to do.

Rose is watching me carefully.

"Trying to run? Tell me, Knight. What precisely _is_ your relationship to the ever-elusive Timaeus? How does he operate? What rules does he play by?" Her drawl is thick and posh, the kind I'd expect to hear from some kind of filthy rich aristocrat.

I hold up three fingers. She doesn't notice, but I know Rose does. "I before E," I spit, tucking one finger back into my fist. Two. "Except after C." One.

The Dersite lady has time for a blink and an expression of resigned disappointment to cross her eyes when my last finger disappears and Rose falls to the ground, shooting upward so the bullet drills into the lead Dersite's side from below. The momentum shoves the Dersite lady's thin form to the side, and Eridan and Rose both open fire on the nearest enemies. I duck and roll, snatching my gun back and making a break for the elevator. Equius limps after me, shooting at the remaining 14 or so Dersites. Eridan shrieks in pain, but I don't pay him attention as I launch myself into the elevator before it even has a chance to fully open. The Dersite lady doesn't seem dead, so I figure she's wearing bulletproof clothing. Rose almost always shoots to kill.

She's right behind me. I hadn't seen her following me, but I'm glad as I notice she's unscathed. Cronus is running for us madly. Eridan is clutching his left shoulder, his face screwed up in pain and his gun forgotten. The two of them make it as soon as the door closes.

The sudden slow decent is a little anticlimactic, but at the very least there's no bullshit elevator music. We're still apparently 5 floors up, and I'm glad we hadn't tried to run using the stairs, although I lament my missed chance to shove Cronus down a flight or two. I feel a little guilty about the thought, then, as I see the tears streaming down Eridan's tightly clenched jaw. He's overly dramatic, but I know that this once the tears are legitimate.

"It's a shame they didn't shoot _you_ ," I mutter to Cronus, pursing my lips before pronouncing his chosen nickname, "Prince. Your brother is honestly more useful than you." I glance at Eridan again. He's leaning on Rose, looking woozy. It's a miracle none of us have died, and my only explanation is that they must be more desperate for information than I initially gave them credit for.

Eridan suddenly slumps, surprising Rose, who drops him. Her hands are stained with purple, although I can't make out the source of the bleeding through the similarly hued Dersite cloth. Equius, having finished tying a quick cloth bandage around his leg, reaches toward Eridan's limp form and slings him over his back.

"We must get to Feferi," he says in his deep voice. "We must free her and flee so we can get this boy the proper care. The arm may be beyond saving, and there is a certain window of time within which cybernetic replacements must be attached."

My eyes widen behind my shades. "What do you mean, 'free her'?" I demand coldly. The cybernetic replacement stuff is good and well, but I'd been under the impression Feferi was ready for us with her plane.

"She was running from Dersites when we found her. She then ordered us to rescue you first. I overheard later that they now have her captive."

"It's likely that they are bringing her here now," Rose states in response. Guilt tugs at me, threatening to shower me in blame. "It's imperative to move quickly."

The elevator opens, and I don't care to look around before locating and making a break for the exit. There aren't many Dersites on this level. A couple of them try to stop us, but Rose shoots them and the rest of our enemies drop for cover, readying their guns. We're out the lobby doors before they're ready to shoot us.

Surprisingly, the trucks are easy to find. All three of them are parked in the parking lot, the doors to one of them open. "Equius, you're our third driver," I command. There are two Dersites around the truck, but Rose takes down one and I the other. She splits from the group to run to the third truck in line, and Equius grabs Cronus's arm and drags him toward the second.

Something zings past me as I reach for the door of the closest truck, attaching to the vehicle's metal body. I follow the thin steel line trailing it to a small gun, held in the hand of the lead Dersite from earlier, about 30 feet away. I get the feel that she's smiling at me. She's leaning on a second Dersite who grips his gun tightly but doesn't take aim, which amuses me. I tilt my head at her curiously.

"We'll meet again, Knight," she promises ominously. "Perhaps even on the same side of the chess board. It's impossible to know. But remember me as the Black Queen."

The small claw attached to the truck detaches and reels back into the gun. I don't waste time, leaping inside the truck to follow Rose and Equius, already under way.

The keys are kindly already inserted, and I wonder wildly as I turn on the ignition why she let me go. What did she mean by 'on the same side of the chess board?' Was there a different reason she hadn't killed me? I shake my head, checking and double checking the mirrors as my truck careens its way out of the parking lot. They're not giving chase. I'm baffled as to why. Why go to all the trouble to drug and kidnap an elite member of an enemy cartel, and then let him escape with all the drugs? If the plan was to let me leave, why did they interfere in the first place?

Questions without immediate answers. I switch to the left lane, trusting there are no incoming cars, before pulling in front of Rose's truck and returning to the right. The road is less refined here and the vehicles aren't terribly fast. I wonder if they let us go only after planting something in the drugs.

After three miles, I pull over to the side of the road to search the contents of the trucks. Rose and Equius follow my lead.

Thirty minutes later, we're back on the road. The drugs are clean, but my mind is more muddled and confused than ever.

-

We run into Feferi after about another hour or so. She's just... waiting at the side of the road. She smiles brightly at us and waves.

Everyone except Eridan exits, and we crowd around her. Rose holds her at arms length and scans her up and down. "Are you harmed?" she inquires.

Feferi shakes her head. "They let me off here. I guess they got a message from their boss or something, because it was rather sudden. Then they said you'd be along and that I should take you all back in the plane. I'm not sure what it was all about, but I'm glad you're okay! You had me worried."

I don't respond, tuning out Cronus's flirting with Feferi and trying desperately to piece things together. It _was_ rather sudden. First they were fighting, and then it was as if in the time we spent in the elevator, the Dersites decided we were all friends and working on the same side. It makes no sense.

"Well, I'm not going to pass up an advantage when I see one," I mutter. "For whatever reason, they're letting us run, so I'm gonna just finish the fucking job and get home and sleep. How long will it take?"

Feferi considers, staring up at me. "About another forty minutes, I'd guess, depending on how fast these trucks can go, to get to my plane. If there are Dersites still crawling all over it, we might face a delay, but after that, just another hour and I can set down in the place I picked you from earlier. That's the nearest we can get to headquarters without attracting unwanted attention, and it sounds like Eridan needs help." She glances worriedly at Equius's truck.

I groan internally. I'm going to be home very, very late. "No time to waste," I mutter, turning on my heel and heading back toward my truck. I'll probably have to pick up dinner on the way or something.

"Why are you dressed as a Dersite?" Feferi asks, hints of curiosity and excitement in her puzzled voice. My mouth quirks up at her almost childishness.

"Forgot to take it off," I sigh, stepping inside the truck and pulling off the extra clothing. I realize then how sweaty and hot I feel, my injured arm throbbing. Maybe lingering effects of the drug have still been keeping me half-asleep. I start the engine again as Feferi joins me in the passenger seat, and we're off.

The rest of the journey proceeds without a hitch, and I'm back home in dirty clothes and a new jacket by 11:40.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, yeah, the dancestors are in this.  
> :)  
>  _please_ comment and leave kudos, they mean the world to me. Also, if you want something lighter that I wrote, maybe check out my zombiestuck fic? It's not getting any attention and I feel better knowing people are reading the things I write.
> 
> Kind of funny that I'd describe zombiestuck as light but tbh in comparison with this fic, it definitely is.
> 
> I LOVE YOU ALL!! thanks for continuing to read this.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the fun part about this is writing the narratives well enough for you guys to be able to easily figure out who's point of view it's from. But if you're confused, you can always ask.

I grit my teeth as I watch Knight flip through papers across the dining table. "What the hell are you doin'?" I growl.

"Reading printouts of smutty fanfiction," he deadpans, and my fin twitches in annoyance. "I brought them for the road. If you're nice to me, I can lend you some." If he wants to be a prick, fine by me, but I narrow my eyes at his last comment.

"I took four bullets for your ungrateful ass yesterday," I snap. "You should be fuckin' worshippin' me."

He raises his eyebrows in response and looks up, before collecting his papers and starting to slide them over to me.

"I don't want it!" I cry out indignantly, snapping my right hand at them. He shrugs and returns to leafing through them. The ache in my arm starts to mount higher, so I rise and make my way into the kitchen to swallow more painkillers. Timaeus rounds a corner and walks into the dining room. Knight collects his papers and folds them into his jacket; Timaeus raises his eyebrows but doesn't ask any questions.

"Twenty minutes, in the car," he says smoothly, sitting at the head of the table and slapping a small silver case onto the wood. I down an entire two glasses of water and make my way back to them.

"Fef never mentioned usin' a separate hanger yesterday. What are you hidin'?" I demand.

Timaeus, instead of answering me, studies the sling around my arm, then turns to look at Knight. "Do you care to enlighten me as to why you haven't been answering your phone?" he questions lightly.

Knight shrugs, but his shoulders are tense. Everyone is tense around Timaeus. "Don't have it with me," he says calmly.

"Why?"

I scoff. "What, he didn't tell you about our small excursion yesterday? Gettin' kidnapped by god damn Dersites? They stole my fuckin' cape."

Knight nods to my shoulders. "You're wearing it."

"It's a spare!" I splutter.

"Lame." I sit down across from him, throwing harpoons at him as best I can through my eyes. An AR-15 at his throat and he'd be treating me different.

Timaeus watches us as he opens the silver case, dealing out cards and laying out poker chips. "Tell me, how did your 'little excursion' go?"

Dave studies the hand dealt to him. "Without a hitch."

"You were compromised."

"We were _all_ compromised," I cut in. "Bishop fuckin' called me and the blueblood in to bail out his sorry ass. Speaking of which, she's got a nice one, but she's so cold, you know? How am I supposed to get her to lighten up?"

Knight's lip curls as he places his bet. "You're fucked up," he states.

"You're upset because you can't get any action out of her either," I accuse.

"At least I'm a decent human being, and she can actually stand to look at me."

"All of you failed to mention this to me," Timaeus says softly. I squint at him and angle my cards away from his prying eyes. He always cheats and the damn shades make it impossible to tell when he's doing it. Knight just never seems interested enough to try to even win, let alone cheat.

"What, that Bishop's got a nice ass?" Knight murmurs, adjusting his hand and throwing down a card. "Didn't think that was your thing. Aren't you more into the other kind?"

Timaeus's head tilts in his direction dangerously, but I slam my hand down on the table before any more words are exchanged. "Do you _try_ to be a brain-dead, aggravating piece of shit?" I snarl, yet to my supreme annoyance his mouth tilts upward at the question. As if I've reminded him of something, or of someone.

He raises his eyebrows, fighting down amusement. "Quick to defend. Something you two have forgotten to tell me?"

"I think you should be the one answering to a question like that," Timaeus responds as I fume. Knight has no maturity and no shame.

Knight yawns. "The meth guy tried to blow me up and someone in our ranks-" he cuts short, looking first at Timaeus and then at the clock. It hasn't quite been twenty minutes yet.

Timaeus lays out a few cards. I swear, chips changing places around the table accordingly. "Someone betrayed you to Dersites," he concludes.

"No," Knight says slowly, throwing in a large bet.

Timaeus nods and says nothing.

Knight stands, the chair careening back as he opens up his hand, too soon and spoiling the game. "What are you going to do? Kill every last one of them?" he says angrily.

Timaeus lays out his cards, taking in all the chips. I fling mine to the wood in irritation. The shortest game in the history of poker. "Ideally, it won't come to that," he says, neither confirming nor denying Knight's suspicions.

"Good, kill them all," I mumble. "Useless idiots. Do you know how many arms and munitions were wasted yesterday for no fuckin' reason?"

"See?" Timaeus points out. "You're wasting resources." Then his joking manner fades. "Not only that, but you're a liability. You're risking this entire network."

Knight shoves his hands into his pockets and stalks angrily to the door. "I'm not responsible for the Dersites' actions."

-

I've been expecting to relax and take up the entire back seat, so you can you can understand my frustrated disappointment when Knight opens the door to it and climbs in. Attempting to sit in the passenger seat near Timaeus is too daunting, so I grumble and take my seat next to Knight as he pulls out the sheets of text and begins rifling through them again. I'm positive they aren't smutty fanfiction, but I'm clueless as to what the hell he might be reading. I try to stare out the window and seem uninterested, but one gets bored of watching endless road and trees and sun and sky.

Knight turns his shoulders to face me at one point, and I meet him with a glare. He looks up and passes a paper under my nose. "What do you know about this?" he says quietly, as if he doesn't want Timaeus to hear from the front. Music is playing from the radio, covering his voice. I narrow my eyes and snatch the paper from him, reading. The heading makes my blood run cold.

 _Field Report_  
Captor, Mituna  
Pyrope, Latula

I skip the date and introduction, skimming the content itself. It's an old police file from several years back, detailing the life of a suspected criminal. It describes habits and preferences, many of which are wrong, as well as romantic affiliations, all of which are unfortunately right. It fits; matespritship with agent Vantas, Kankri; Kismesissitude with agent Captor, Mituna. My breathing turns shallower. Suspected involvement with the Veil. Highly probable to be a major arms dealer.

The police had no idea who they were dealing with, even when he had been so exposed. I sniff and look at Knight with disdainfully half-lidded eyes. "You're givin' me a police report on my brother. I can tell you I know a hell of a lot more about him than this piece of shit. Even you do," I say dully.

"I'm not asking what you know about your brother," he says, annoyed. "I'm asking what you know about agents Mituna Captor and Latula Pyrope."

"Next to nothin'," I lie. "Why? They important?" They were so important.

"I killed them."

I scoff. "Sucks to be them." Knight spares me an irritated glare before returning to the papers, except now I'm more curious about them. "Why'd you kill 'em?" I ask. Not that I don't already know, but I need to keep him talking so I can figure out why _he'd_ been involved with something from so long ago.

"Bro ordered it."

"You've killed hundreds. What makes these two so special?" I know what made them important to me personally, but I don't understand why Knight is so hung up on them.

"First kill," Knight mutters. "I was given faces but no names. Now that I know the names..."

"You gonna actually decide to stop being so fuckin' vague or can I go back to not givin' a shit?" I say flatly. He needs to learn how to get to the point without blindly monologuing himself into some kind of worthwhile sentence, impossible to identify anyway due to it being surrounded by his stream of idiotic pointless blather.

"Her sister. Her sister's a regular buyer, and it doesn't seem plausible." Knight exhales through his nose, tipping his head back.

I'm taken aback a little. Latula _Pyrope._ Should have been obvious. "Well if you're sellin' to a police agent, you done fucked up," I snarl. "What else is new." My heart beats fast, despite my uncaring outward demeanor. I realize something suddenly, and oh, what a small world it is.

"She's a senator." _I know that, Knight. It's not like she's campaigning to run for American president soon or anything._ "And before you make fun of me about that, I can guarantee you she's genuine. She hides it from her campaign, but she's addicted. All the regular buyer habitual progression signs are there. She checks out."

"Great," I say. "Did I ask?" The next time I see Serket, I'm going to punch her in her pretty little fucking face. Knight looks at me, then at Timaeus, before blowing out another long breathy sigh from his nose and turning back to his police reports or whatever the fuck he's so immersed in. I study his face. His nose is straight, curved upward just right, and his shades hide his eyes but his cheekbones are high.

He's fairly attractive. Although I haven't yet met a human or a troll I haven't found _somewhat_ attractive - but Knight holds a certain boyish charm in his face that might make my blood-pusher flutter in my chest if it weren't already given to Feferi.

My thoughts turn to dwell on her instead, and I return my gaze to the window, thinking about how much more ideal my relationship with her is compared to Cronus's foolish escapades with the old CIA agents.

-

Timaeus ends up having to stop for gas two hours in. It's a little strange. His entire existence is usually surreal and not exactly on the same level as any other human - so to see him doing something mundane such as filling gas. It's a little strange. I let him knock himself out and go for a walk to get out of their vicinity. Knight and Timaeus are so similar in appearance, I know they're brothers, despite their weak attempts at arguing they're not. Timaeus does well at avoiding the topic, but Knight's apathetic to it all and it's easy to read a situation through him, compared to Timaeus.

Around the back, a small blue 8-sided die rolls to a stop at my feet. I immediately stomp my heel down on it, hard, and whirl around, grinding it against the tar. "Hey, mind passing me back my die?" The falsely innocent voice calls from above. "It must have slipped from my fingers. Be a gentleman, would you?" she purrs. I glare at the roof of the small store, where Vriska is lying on her side and rolling four dice between the fingers of her right hand.

"If it isn't Serket," I snarl. "I was fantasizin' about punchin' you in your impish little face just this mornin'."

She brings her fingers to her chest in mock bashfulness. "Aw, you think about me like that?" She smiles and winks at me, and my spine tingles. "Unfortunately for you, I don't have time for you today. Funny we should cross paths at all." She's downright _aggravating,_ and it makes me ache with anger.

I turn my attention to the ladder against the side of the building, scaling it in seconds and coming to stand over her. My hair curls against my horns in the wind, my cape fluttering out over her toned body as she props herself up on her arms. I figure everyone down below can see me, but I don't care. I need to have a word with this bitch.

"You didn't even bring me my die," she says, her painted blue lips turning downward into a frown.

"To hell with your die," I growl, stepping forward to kneel over her. "Tell me, what was the name of your beloved ex-moirail you never shut up about?"

Her eyebrows rise and her mouth forms a perfect little O. "Why would I answer such a question from someone so rude?" Her left hand, holding the rest of her seven dice, dangles dangerously over the edge of the roof.

I fucking _hate_ those dice more than any weapon in the world. Some people use swords or flamethrowers. Vriska uses ancient magic dice she pillaged with her sister in some dumb wild escapade I've probably outdone at some point or another.

I grab her left hand, growling, letting my nails poke at her skin, pinning the dice inside our hands. Her eyebrows jump up and down at me once, and I can't help it. I lean down and push my lips into hers, giving her no room to back out, laying her back down and pinning both hands above her head.

Kismesissitude feelings too strong. I blame it on her inability to resist flirting with me.

Her tiny perfect blueblood fangs nip at my lips, so I push against her harder until she starts laughing. Vriska pulls off a good malicious laugh, unfortunately, and it irritates me to no end. Her left had twists free and the remaining dice roll from her hand, cascading off the side of the roof. Before I have time to react, blue chains are wrapping around me, pinning my arms to my side no matter how much I strain. y injured shoulder twinges despite the painkillers.

"Your guard is aaaaaaaalways weak," she croons, walking her fingers up the side of my face to stand them near the base of my horn.

"Answer my question, scum," I snarl at her, ignoring the shivers slowly ascending my spine. The chains will lose power soon, and then I'm _definitely_ going to punch her. "Was it, by any chance, senator Terezi Pyrope? And did she, by any fuckin' chance, have an older sister? By the name Latula?" I hiss at her. Her gaze hardens and she trails her finger around one horn, barely touching it. The tickling sensation is _agonizing,_ and my vision blurs for a second.

"You're a smart one!" she says with false cheer. "For _once._ " then she pushes me backward until I'm about to fall to my back, grabbing my horn and pulling my head against gravity with it. I arch my back and seal my lips shut so I don't make any embarrassing noise. "She's a high ranking official. I could end you and all your aspirations with one word, Eridan," she whispers in my ear before letting go.

The chains spring apart, _finally,_ and I shrug them off, throwing them over the side of the roof. Vriska can clean up her own shit. "No," I chuckle, pleased that there's _some_ leverage I can gain from this devastating predicament. I just have to trust that there are too many people between Cronus and Terezi for Vriska to know enough to use against me. "What you don't know is that Terezi Pyrope is affiliated with _us._ "

Vriska actually looks taken aback for the first time in a long while. I savor the moment and place my hands over her thighs, just above her knees. "What?" she gasps, a blue flush finally, _finally_ rising to her cheeks. "She wouldn't ever do something like that. You're trying to tell me she buys from you?"

I shrug, smirking. "Guess we can corrupt even the best of the best." Her eyes narrow, but I grip her legs tightly as I move forward and they soften again. "And if I'm readin' the situation right, it seems that her lovely sister Latula is the same agent who brought in your old partner in crime." My hands travel up to the sides of her hips. "Didn't you only get away because Latula didn't know of your existence? Seems to me if I tell Terezi about who you _really_ are, you'll be lookin' at a prison cell real soon. And we can do this-" my hands come to a stop at either side of her stomach, under her shirt, and I pinch her skin "-whenever. I. want. You can join your sister Aranea for a lifetime of servin' me."

Vriska's breathing is getting unsteady. Once I break through her first wall, she's easier and easier to crack. "You think Terezi will jail me without bringing you in too? Arrogance!"

I laugh and press my nose to her neck, my teeth scraping along her collarbone. "If she won't cooperate, I have the power to wipe her off the face of this planet in seconds. It's easy when she meets us regularly, alone, in need of drugs in her system." Vriska pushes against me, her throat thrumming with anger, but I push back harder. No one knows heartache like I do, and I'll use it to my advantage.

Her eyes close as I chafe my fingers against her grub scars, forcing my lips over hers again.

If nothing else good came out of being forced to spend six hours in a car with Knight and Timaeus, I at least finally gained a clear upper hand over Vriska in our black relationship. What a small world, that my kismesis is ex-moirails with the sister of my brother's ex-matesprit's other ex-matesprit, who is also his ex-kismesis's matesprit. Or, was.

My entire body thrums with satisfaction.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> haha what the fuck is troll romance
> 
> This chapter was kind of suggestive. Take it however you will
> 
> Edit: there were some notes that I wrote to myself in here oh my god I'm so sorry if you read them they were not supposed to be there hnnngg


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow! It's been a while. I had to review all my notes for this story (there are quite a few...) and sorry if this chapter sounds a little... idk? Just, it's been a while since I updated so I hope it keeps flowing with the story.

Terezi has a nice taste in music, honestly. It doesn't quite match up to mine, which is obviously superior, but it's somewhere between mine and Dave's and it's altogether pretty nice. Infinitely better than the fucking trash that he listens to, anyway. I sit in the back seat as we drive toward California's Hollywood district, staring out the window and dwelling in thought. There's a fancy glass screen separating us from Terezi's chauffeur. Terezi looks guilty on my left.

"How long ago did you find out?" I say. "Why haven't you told me anything in all this time?"

"I don't really know," she sighs. "I guess I always should have. When I started looking into the Veil, and I got my CIA friend to get me old records and lab reports - you've read them, right? - the bullets analyzed before matched the sample we got. That's when I narrowed it down, but before that there'd only been hints. Honestly though, I kind of got lucky."

"Well," I say, feeling just a bit thick about the whole situation, honestly, "That's impressive. You've always been pretty savvy with all these mind, intellect things."

"You think I'm savvy?" she grins, and I instantly lighten up a little. Crazy how she can do that.

I snort. "Being a politician suits you. Anyway, wasn't all that a really long time ago? Who is this CIA guy you're so close to? How long have you even known him?"

She turns her head in my direction and says nothing for a second. Then she bursts into bubbling peals of laughter.

"What??" I demand. "I'm serious! I've never heard of this guy until recently, and now I'm finding out he's been practically everywhere in your life!"

"You're so adorable," she giggles, reaching up to rest her hand against her forehead. "He's not important, honestly. You can relax. He's related to Latula's fiancee."

This rubs me extremely the wrong way. If that's true, he is in fact _very_ important and I definitely can _not_ relax. "Are you serious??" I balk. Her laughter explodes again and she folds my hand into hers.

"Don't _worry_. He's like my brother, Karkat." I stare at our interlocked fingers, silently trying to gauge this CIA guy's potential threat level. "In any case, he's just an informant. It's thanks to him that you and I are making progress together." She says it in a way that makes me suspect there's a double meaning behind the words, but I can't for the life of me figure out what exactly it might be.

"Yeah, okay, whatever," I sigh.

-

Kanaya greets us in the lobby of her building. "Nice to see you," she says warmly, embracing first me and then Terezi. "Let's go up, shall we?" She turns and leads us to one of the elevators, and I take time to admire the classy interior design. Every time I visit, there's something different about this place.

Kanaya practically _owns_ the costume department in Hollywood. Not literally, but she's talented and influential and everyone's always clamoring for her work, so she started running her own thing. She bought this building and turned it into a sort of costuming headquarters. She runs her own company through here, renting out costumes, designing, employing, making clothes herself, and offering a large number of internships for aspiring designers and artists. It's pretty amazing. I wonder sometimes why I'm not intimidated by being constantly surrounded by such influential people all the time, but honestly, I don't care. The most stuck up person I've ever met is Dave anyway, so being with wealthy people doesn't even come close to unpleasant.

Other than that, Kanaya's basically my sister. We grew up together.

We step out of the elevator after a couple minutes and into the glowing penthouse where Kanaya lives, golden sunlight streaming in from every window. There are walls and stand-alone boards pinned up with sketches and color palettes, notes in Kanaya's swooping narrow script. Mannequins decorate the room swathed in cloth in varying stages of completion.

"Hi Terezi, Karkat!" I hear, noticing that one of the mannequins is in fact Terezi's law intern.

"Nepeta? What are you doing here?" Terezi says, surprised. "You were taking some time off, weren't you?"

"Equius left yesterday with something urgent," she chirps. Her face is tinged with a green blush. "So I came by to see Kanaya. She also said you were coming over, so I decided I'd stay and let her work on me as well."

She's dressed in a rather flattering suit, so I say, "Nice job. It looks good on you."

Nepeta's eyes widen before she grins and squeezes her eyes closed. "Thanks!" she says, elated. Her wild hair is pinned away from her face today, piled up on her head somewhat.

"Your compliments are accepted," Kanaya says happily. "This was something of an urgent matter, as I understand it?"

"Fuck, yeah," I sigh, suddenly somber as we circle back to the topic. "The Veil is responsible for their deaths." Then I blink. I'm usually not so forthright with things, but it kind of slipped out.

"Oh," Kanaya says after a pause. "Well... Sit down."

Terezi and I walk to take a seat on the lush white sofa. I stare out the windows at the skyline, sunlight streaming in through the gaps between the skyscrapers surrounding us. Kanaya leads Nepeta behind a dressing screen, helping her out of the pinned suit so she doesn't prick herself. The seat is cool beneath me as I stare forward at the glass table.

Kanaya had gotten home before me. When I'd opened the door, the living room had been a bloody mess, jade green and candy red mixing into an ugly shade on the carpet. There were splatters on the wall, bodies on the floor, and I hadn't put it together until Kanaya had looked up at me with green tears streaming down her face. And even then - I'd been in denial.

I decided then and there on my career - something safe, far from danger, remote. Someone no one valued enough to take the time to seek out and kill. An English major, because I still wanted to pursue my interests but I wanted as little publicity as possible. Not like Porrim, steadily growing her influence in the modeling business, not like Kanaya, going with Porrim to meet with fashion designers and befriend and learn from them. And, well, not like Kankri, doing charity work or whatever because, okay, that's boring. Of course, I strayed from that a little bit with the whole Skaia thing, but... it's Terezi. I'll do anything for her.

After that, Kanaya and I'd lived alone. For some reason, the murder of our family was kept all very hush-hush. There were obituaries in the paper, but other than that, no word, no case, just - they'd been murdered. Because there were bullets in their heads, because I'd seen it, but not because the police came out with an official statement. We inherited what we did and tried to move on from it. Eventually, I think I did. Until now. Because now, the bullets have a source - now, I have an enemy, I have emotional drive, and... I have absolutely no idea what to do about it, except to keep supporting Terezi.

Kanaya returns one brewed kettle of tea later, and I accept a cup graciously. It's sweet. "We have some things to discuss," Kanaya says. "I know now why you've been so driven, Terezi, but is your evidence conclusive?"

"Forensic analysis came back and the bullet samples we've collected match the bullet sample retrieved from Mituna's body," Terezi says calmly, in contrast to the news she's giving. I suppose she's had a long time to get used to the truth.

"Wait," I say. "That's... Latula's fiancee, right? What does he have to do with Kanaya and me?"

Terezi frowns in my direction. "He was with Latula when they were killed. Didn't you read the reports, Karkat?"

"Oh, don't pull that shit on me, I have college papers to grade, I don't have time to scour the four-hundred sheets of text you emailed me," I complain. "Anyway, I forget, but how did you know that the same person killed all four of them?"

"Well, they were all on the same team, investigating the Veil," Kanaya explains patiently.

I stare at her. "They were investigating the Veil?"

"Yeah. They were in the CIA? Honestly, Karkat. How do you not know this?" Terezi sighs.

"Was I supposed to know this??" No one has ever told me this. I look back and forth between the two. Nepeta takes a seat next to Kanaya, in her own clothes again, listening to what's happening. Terezi hasn't shooed her away or anything, which bugs me, because that means that apparently this is no secret and I _still_ have no idea what the hell they're talking about.

"Okay," Kanaya says. "I'll tell you everything from the beginning. I'd assumed you'd figured it out by now, but that's okay."

I lean back, glaring, waiting for her to fucking explain.

"Porrim, Kankri, Latula, and Mituna Captor were all a team working with one another in the CIA," she says. "Latula and Mituna were field agents. As you know, I believe, they grew to become lovers and were even engaged. They investigated specifically the arms dealers, and the group developed close relationships with one who we now believe was one of the Veil's main providers. I suspect this was also what caused the loss of their cover, and they were soon thereafter murdered by the Veil. Kankri stayed mainly at home after Latula and Mituna became involved with each other, and helped Porrim with undercover research. I watched her work and helped occasionally, which is why I decided to take on the same role for you and Terezi."

"It didn't matter anyway, because their entire team was killed, and all the private research Porrim had gathered was wiped," Terezi says. "I had to start fresh. I looked into the Veil first, because it was Latula's main focus. I asked you to help out because you were my close friend and you shared a past with me, Karkat. Your family was killed. Mine was presumed dead, on account of them never having found the body." She laughs a little. "I thought you joined Skaia for the same reasons I did."

My mind swirls. "So, Kanaya... exactly how long have you known this?"

Kanaya leans back and sips her tea. "Ah... I grew up knowing. Porrim told me I had to keep it secret from you, because Kankri didn't want you to know."

"Wow," I say lamely. "That's... nice."

"I'm sorry, Karkat," Kanaya says gently.

"If you'd read the reports, you'd have known," Terezi says, trying not to laugh. I flip her off.

Nepeta clears her throat. "This is all related to what happened with Gamzee's relative, right?" she says quietly.

I throw my hands up in the air. "Everyone in this room knows something I don't! When are we going to get to the part where Karkat is caught up and aware of what the fuck is going on? Why are all of you so cagey about all this shit that has to do with me??"

"Well, it doesn't really have to do with you," Nepeta says shyly, looking fiercely at the table. "I don't know much about it either... but Terezi thought it might be related."

"What about Gamzee's relative?" I demand. "He was into drugs. Did he know Kankri and them? Were they involved too? How much about my own family do I not know?"

"Karkat, calm down," Terezi says seriously. "You're overreacting. Don't blow this out of proportion, it's all history, nothing is going to change and you're getting so unnecessarily worked up."

"Okay, sure, just quit with the secrets already," I say. She frowns, because I've clearly made no effort to change the pitch or tone of my voice.

"Meulin is my relative," Nepeta starts.

"Is she dead too?" I say in a hollow voice.

"No, she's doing all right, more or less," Nepeta says. "She was matesprits with Gamzee's relative."

I tilt my head at that. "I never would have guessed. You and Gamzee hardly ever interact."

She shrugs. "I guess I'm more focused on other people. But she used to look after Gamzee sometimes, because his own relative wouldn't always be able to."

"He did say something about that a few times," I nod.

"She was studying psychology, and things were going pretty well for her, and everything was fine until..." Nepeta trails off, not as if she's too emotional, but as if she's trying to figure out how best to phrase the next part.

Terezi clears her throat. "Nepeta came to me one day and told me that Meulin had come home and had been acting different, rarely coming out of her room, keeping it locked. I went and talked to Meulin, and got her to a hospital. It'd turned out that someone had broken into Kurloz's house and had killed him, and had attacked Meulin as well. She was trying to keep it covered up for Gamzee's sake, so I had to pull some strings to keep it hush-hush." There are some strange undertones in Terezi's voice, which send me into thought.

Terezi doesn't like Gamzee, it's no secret. Terezi _really_ likes Nepeta. They were childhood friends. She's extremely protective of her. If Gamzee's relative has already caused this much havoc in Nepeta's life, I can kind of understand why Terezi is wary of Gamzee. On top of that, she's been forced to help him, as I'm finding out, forced to push some boundaries to keep him protected for Nepeta's sake. But she doesn't want Nepeta to get involved with Gamzee.

The more I consider it, the more natural Terezi's black feelings seem. And for some reason, I feel tinged with jealousy. _Different quadrant, fuckhead,_ I think to myself. _get your shit together._

"Kurloz was heavily involved with drugs, as you already know," Kanaya continues. "After talking to Gamzee and using him as a lead, I think it was mostly, if not all, from the Veil. The cartel is multifaceted enough to cover any and all desires for any drug dealer. Not only that, but he was moirails with Mituna Captor, and, being so deep into the Veil's network as he likely was, it's not implausible that the Veil viewed him as a threat and eliminated him."

"This is really fucking complicated for no damn reason," I huff. "Why couldn't it be just, 'he killed my family! I must exact revenge!' No, instead, it's all tangled up through different people and different relationships and different motives and the only simple way to get back is to eradicate the whole organization, which is basically impossible anyway!"

Terezi grins, closing her eyes. "Yeah," she sighs. "But it's fun, I think. There won't be anything to do after we win."

After we win.

I've never given it any thought. Now that I think about it, there's a lot of time I spend with Terezi working on this. To be just a boring old English professor with some wild stories to tell that no one's really ever going to believe - it's really rather unimaginable, despite the fact that it's exactly the future I'd wanted at first. But that was before Terezi.

"Well, there's not much we're going to gain out of speculating over old history," Kanaya says. "Now that we're all hopefully up to speed, I have some more recent matters to discuss with you." She stands and motions her head for us to follow her into one of the other rooms, one she keeps locked. After a second to unlock the door with a small silver key around her neck, she pushes it open and we enter her home research center. The room is all keyboards and monitors, some of them displaying information, some of them internet articles, some of them pleasant backgrounds. One wall is a floor-to-ceiling aquarium with a black backdrop glowing with pulsating jellyfish, a couple small bioluminescent crabs and starfish decorating the bottom. The aquarium is my favorite thing about this room.

"Rose Lalonde," Kanaya says, with some strange emotion in her voice. On the center screen is a semi-decent quality picture of a lady, platinum blond hair cut stylishly at her jaw. She has sharp eyes and she's dressed in black and purple form-fitting clothing. "She's a friend of mine. We... _knew each other_ in high school. She's always been very passionate about psychology and writing. Quite a while back she suddenly became very distant. I talk to her every once in a blue moon, but I hardly know much anything about her."

Kanaya stops talking. "Okay..." I say. "This is relevant because?"

Kanaya blows out a long breath. "I've been suspecting this for a long time. I've checked and double-checked. But she keeps coming up. I haven't told you anything because I've been desperately hoping she's innocent, but I have ridiculous amounts of evidence that points to her. I'm fairly sure she's involved with the Veil. Extensively."

"Nice," I say, pulling out a swivel chair and leaning back. "That's great. This is solid. We just need to find her. What evidence?"

Kanaya looks low-key miserable, but she bends forward and mouses through several tabs and windows. Pictures and pictures of the same girl over and over again, at different places, meeting with people. There's a shot of her with a gun, shooting at something off screen with one hand while looking the other way to maintain a blurry figure in a headlock.

One picture catches my eye. "Hold up," I say, turning my chair around so I can lean forward against the back of it. Kanaya pauses. "Where did you get all these pictures anyway?"

"Once you know a name and have a facial structure in the program, it's fairly easy to find images."

"Who is that?" I point to the screen. Rose Lalonde is talking to someone a head taller than her, dressed in a suit. He has the same color hair, and although the picture is blurry, there's a shadow over where his eye should be, and the picture reminds me of someone I know - it's just kind of impossible.

Kanaya shakes her head. "There's no way of knowing. The image is too blurry, I have no way of guessing his name, and thousands of people could match up."

I consider briefly asking her to put in Dave's name, but the prospect is _so ridiculous_ it falls away from my mind quickly. Dave Strider, working under the Veil. As if.

Terezi hasn't said anything the entire time. I glance up at her, pushing further forward into the back of my seat. She turns her head in my direction slightly before stepping closer to the screen and inhaling deeply. "Rose Lalonde," she murmurs. "That... That seems right. I've met her."

"You've _what?_ " I say. Kanaya sighs and leans against the desk, pouting slightly. I realize she'd still been hoping Rose Lalonde was innocent.

"She's been at some of the deals," Terezi murmurs. "We need to find her. But... Lalonde, you say? Smells correct, but you're sure there's no mistake about that?"

"Oh," Kanaya laughs. "Believe me, it's not a name I would forget." I narrow my eyes at her, and she blushes when she catches me looking, but Terezi's saying something.

"Run a search for Roxy Lalonde."

"Who the fuck is Roxy Lalonde," I groan. Too many things I don't know.

Kanaya dejectedly types something into the computer, and results start popping up.

"She exists, but this is surprisingly little," Kanaya notes, clicking through.

"Right," Terezi nods. "We don't have access to CIA files. Roxy Lalonde is the name of an acquaintance of my friend's."

"Your CIA friend," I mutter, "The Captor."

Terezi grins at me. "I'm all yours, Karkat, stop acting like a wiggler. Let's get in touch with him. Now. He acts like he's so busy all the time, but I'm ninety percent sure he just plays Galaga or all day. Thought we wouldn't notice, but we did."

"You did not just quote Avengers," I mutter.

Terezi winks at me, typing something furiously at her phone as she takes a seat in front of Kanaya's main computer.

A few minutes later, an irritated troll with multicolored glasses fills up four of the screens. Terezi pushes back from the monitors.

"What is it," he says.

"Nice to see you," Terezi beams.

"You said you had something important."

"I do," she replies teasingly.

"Who are you talking to?" The voice comes from someone off screen, who slides into the field of view after another moment. "Are these _friends_ of yours, Captor? Hi!! I'm Roxy." Her platinum blond hair bounces around her face as she waves.

"Pleasure to meet you," Kanaya smiles.

"Why are you wasting my time?" Captor sighs. He has a lisp. I glare at him. "Why is shorty so angry over there? Lighten up, whoever you are."

"Fuck you."

He actually laughs at that - literally tilts his head back and laughs. Someone shouts at him from off the screen but he doesn't acknowledge it.

Terezi grins. "We're calling because we've found a name. Rose Lalonde."

"Ooh," Roxy says. "Rose! Come here."

Another lady slides into view. She looks almost exactly like Roxy, but with straighter hair. "You match the images," I comment.

Captor slams his fist on the table. "Fucking Timaeus. Idiot. I'm serious, it'll take me two seconds, I'll wipe them all. Just let me."

"I told you, Sollux," Rose says. Her voice is smooth and cool. I glance at Kanaya, who has a smile playing on her face.

"Again with the first name," he growls.

"If Timaeus wants them there, there's no choice we have. On the other hand, I'm surprised to see you, Kanaya." Rose smiles at the camera.

Kanaya grins. "I... Likewise." Then she blinks. "I mean... well, yes, I am surprised, because I did not know you worked for the CIA." Then she blushes fiercely. "For obvious reasons. I... Okay."

Rose smiles wider, revealing pearly white teeth. "What brings you to my colleague's little government-issued computer screen?"

"I'm not your colleague," Sollux Captor sighs. "They're an underground organization." He coughs out the word 'illegal' before continuing, "that's been researching the Veil. Or more accurately, a group put together by our dear senator from technology that _belongs to me_."

Terezi giggles. "Don't be such a pessimist," she says brightly. "In any case. Rose. You're very clever."

Rose nods. "I thought you were a very controlled buyer," she admits. "I've been seeing you more and more recently, but your 'addictions' match up too closely to the average. I can help you set them more realistically, if you want, although I think you're fooling everyone else. Let me guess, you're studying the Veil's drugs and looking for connections?"

"Ditto," Kanaya answers. "It's not that I'm not pleased that you're not a drug dealer, Rose, but now we have no leads. That is, if I'm correct in assuming you're a CIA agent working undercover as part of the Veil."

"Ditto," Rose says, winking.

"Get a room," I groan, which causes Sollux Captor to snicker. I can't help it - I'm actually kind of warming up to him.

"Rosey is actually our prisoner," Roxy says, matter-of-fact. "We're interrogating her."

Rose shrugs. "Truthfully, even though I've been part of the Veil for many months, I barely know anything about it. I have connections with a man who goes by the pseudonym 'Knight.' He's very influential, judging by the reactions of the people I've seen working with him." She stays quiet for a few seconds. "Kanaya, you're researching the Veil?"

"Yes," Kanaya says.

"Then we should keep in touch more often. We can collaborate." Kanaya smiles and starts to say something, but Rose's head suddenly snaps to the side as something beeps.

"Is that Knight?" Roxy asks.

Rose grabs a phone from the right of the screen. "Yes. Apparently he wants me at some obscure location that's a six hour drive from here." Her eyes flash in annoyance - but there's something else there too. Something like fondness.

I suddenly wonder if we can really trust these CIA agents. At least, if we can really trust Rose. Getting close to members of the Veil was what got my family killed.

"Again with the short notices," Sollux grumbles. "Keep in touch. See you whenever the hell."

Rose nods before waving to the camera.

"Bye!" Terezi says cheerfully, shutting off the screen. "No leads, then," she sighs.

Kanaya flops down in a chair, smiling. "Nope."

"Wrong," I say. "One lead."

Knight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was kind of an information-y chapter. Let me know what you think!


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who decided to do NaNoWriMo hahaha brb gonna kms
> 
>  
> 
> **IMPORTANT: I've added the Rape/Non-Con Elements archive warning. If you're not comfortable with that you can skip this chapter and read the notes at the end.**

We're two hours from the jet's departure when I hear the harsh slam of metal and muffled yelling from one of the hangars. I walk calmly toward the sounds, vaguely curious. This wing is private. No one should be in here without a pass. I unlock the inside door and push it open with two fingers. There are no lights inside.

It's unmistakeably Dave. I take half a second to understand what's happening - a girl dressed in leather and spandex is straddling him on the ground, gripping his wrists and pushing them into the cold cement, kissing him and kissing him like a fucking savage. He's protesting against her lips and struggling to free himself. I raise my gun, always in my hand, and immediately drill a bullet into her head - bright red blood flies through the air as the force throws her body off of him.

Dave scrambles away, gasping, turning his head to look at me and rapidly trying to calm his breathing. I lower my arm and stare at him, waiting. He resumes the unreadable expression he should always be wearing and stands. "Why did you _kill_ her?"

"Looked like you needed intervention." There's no sound, but I can see his chest heaving with shaky breaths, so I add, "Compose yourself," and I can feel the mental glare he gives me. Doesn't matter. If he can't keep himself competent to be my brother, there's nowhere else he'll be able to survive in this world.

"I'm composed as shit. And I was having fun."

"Looked like it."

"Yeah." Dave deliberately turns his head to look at the wall on his left. "Bitches be lining up left and right swooning over me, and I finally pick one and she gets fuckin' murdered. You're the reason I don't have enough of a love life." Actually, Dave has a stellar 'love life,' the way I see it. At the very least, it's not like there's any kind of shortage anywhere. But that's not what he's talking about.

"There's a reason you're not allowed to have a housemate. This is the reason."

There it is. The tight set in his jaw that lets me know he's furious. He's so emotional. He's gotten better, but he's improving too slow. I'm the only reason he hasn't gotten killed yet. He's more than capable for most anything that excludes actually _running_ the Veil. He hides from everything in his real life. I know I need to stop him. He needs to learn that he's not a kid anymore, that he never had any other option - and even if he knows that, he needs to make his peace with it, he needs to - okay.

"He has nothing to do with this," he says. Too defensive. I can kill Karkat, just one person, and it'll rip Dave apart forever. Too much of a vulnerability. "Six months. You're fucking crazy. Why don't you just move down there if you want to snog your boyfriend so much?" Typical.

"Every time we begin to touch on the subject of your living choices and habits, the word 'boyfriend' is never far behind. It's transparent. Anyone can see that laying one finger on him is all it takes to control you. I can't afford a liability like this." Dave doesn't understand it. He's still trying to fucking pretend that he isn't part of this.

"So your solution is to spend half a year down in a foreign country?"

I step forward and he flinches. "You're an _adult_ , Dave Strider," I hiss,talking about his general lifestyle now.

"Ooh, full name."

"Don't act like a child. Learn when you have to move on."

"Does it ever occur to you that he wouldn't be a problem if you weren't on my fucking case about it all the god damn time?" he demands. He's losing himself, and he realizes it as soon as I tilt my head back, looking down at him.

"This isn't a problem? Did I ever say his name? You're the one focusing on him."

"Go to hell! This _is_ about him! It always is with you! Just leave him alone. He's completely uninvolved. He's a fucking English professor, he's a huge nerd, and every second with him is infinitely better than the rest of my entire god damn life. He's causing absolutely no threat to you. What's the chance I'm going to run into a Dersite who'll randomly say, 'hey, I hope you're not too attached to this random-ass university professor because I'm really in the mood to fucking cut a bitch and he seems like a good target.'? That's never going to happen! You don't have to fucking cut off every relationship I have with anyone outside the Veil!"

"Like the relationship with her?" I ask, gesturing toward the dead girl on the floor. Dave makes a disgusted, frustrated noise.

I wait.

"Clean up your own dead god damn body," he mutters, turning to the other end of the garage to exit out the main doors.

"I did let you call Bishop," I say as he keys in the combination to open the hangar.

"You expect me to believe that was out of the graciousness of your heart?" Actually, there was a small part of it that was. The hangar doors open and light floods the space, glimmering on the growing stain of blood pooling beneath the dead girl. Dave looks like he's about to say more, but then he turns and strides out of my line of sight.

The reason I let Dave call Bishop is because I want to evaluate her myself, in person. I want to see her eyes, her face, away from a computer screen. She's of a particular interest to me. She seems to be a normal, average citizen, but she's smart, tactful, clear-headed, calm, and she aims with deadly accuracy and precision. It's not quite... normal.

I step over toward the girl in the middle of the floor. Her lips are still glistening with saliva - I feel kind of sorry for Dave if she's that kind of kisser. Not to mention the fact that she on the verge of raping him. I search her quickly, unsurprised to find various small weapons concealed in the natural curves and angles of her shapely body. She's some kind of assassin or hitman, then. I dwell in my disappointment for a while. Dave keeps playing dangerous games, on _purpose_. It's insufferable. I'm still not sure how much he's actively trying to let himself get killed.

The housemate, though. Something needs to be done about that situation. Not only is Vantas an easy target, but his relative's history with the Veil makes me suspicious. I haven't been able to find out for sure whether Karkat's working for the CIA, but assuming he is, it's the worst possible situation Dave could put him and me in. We probably should have killed all four families. I won't make the same mistake.

I step outside the garage and wave to one of my men to clean up the mess inside before walking to the jet and climbing up to the door. Feferi smiles and holds it open for me. I close the curtains to my private lounge behind me. Then I sit down, take the laptop, and call Jake.

He picks up the second time I try. "Hello there," he greets.

"Yo." I study his smiling face for a second. "We'll be there by the end of today. Sorry about the delay."

"Don't worry about it. We're waiting for you here. Megido's been talking about little else since morning, actually. How's it been?"

I lean back. "Secured a couple billion this morning. Lost a few million just two days ago, but that'll been compensated for soon enough with another five billion deal I looked into."

Jake interrupts me. "Not the _money_ , Christ. How've you been? How's your brother been? What's new with you?"

I shrug, never knowing how to answer when he asks. "He's still being how he always is. Difficult. I'm bringing the girl I told you about with us. We'll see if she's worth keeping for real or not. Ampora's kismesis has been following us without his knowledge and is probably going to steal her way onto the jet, so you'll want to be on guard for her arrival as well. Some old customer reached out to one of my men trying to join up recently - he was turned down, which I might have to check up on because he was a fucking purpleblood. I was looking into some records yesterday, and the girl campaigning for presidency here is starting to raise some eyebrows, I think. I might have to send someone else to step in, or myself."

Jake raises his eyebrows. "How so?" It's easier for us where he is, where Meenah Peixes is in charge and mostly leaves us alone as long as Feferi's treated well. But we've been struggling to get roots into the American government for decades.

"Too textbook, I think," I say. "She'll keep at it for a while, buying more and more, studying drugs, gleaning locations, trying to track our sources. Then when she's president, you've heard her talk, she'll get her way. After that, it becomes yet another problem on our hands as a result of trying to solve one. On the other hand, she might be genuine, but I don't think we should play that risk yet, not until at least the Dersites have been eliminated as a threat."

Jake nods. "They're still causing trouble then?"

Anger ticks in my heart. "They took Dave the other day. He escaped partially with Bishop's help, which is why I've decided to scrutinize her a little more closely. He tried to hide it from me."

Jake rolls his eyes. "We all know how that goes. You're too uptight."

"You're only relaxed because you're on the easier side of this," I state. "Peixes makes that happen. That's the reason I'm doing this now."

The side of Jake's mouth flits upward in a smile. "The truth comes out! You're running."

"I'm not running."

"You're playing it safe, _mi amor_." My heart pounds. God damn it, Jake, now is not the time for this. "It's not bad, still respectable. I've personally shot and killed many Dersites over the past few months, I've lost count. They're dangerous, elite - security doesn't always have an easy time with them, and they do get past too often for liking."

"You go out too much," I mutter. "Spend more time inside. You're too important to run menial tasks. I tell Dave the same thing almost every day, neither of you listen to me."

"Yes, well, when you're not here to take me out, I've got to do it myself, haven't I?"

"That's not funny," I say. "This is how men like us get killed."

"Yeah, you're saying that because you care for our safety, I'm very touched and all."

"I'm saying that because I care for keeping this cartel's status and power."

"But no human can spend all their time locked up inside working on god knows what it is you work on," Jake continues, as if he hasn't heard me. "You're the one who needs to be more in touch with the world."

"I take offense to that, I'm more in touch with what happens in this world than any of you."

"Outside the internet, Dirk."

"...You're the only person who ever gets to say these things to me."

Jake smirks. "I know." He leans back in his chair, and I watch his crooked lips as he speaks again. "We'll stay late at the bar tonight to celebrate a little. I'll see you later." He winks, and then the screen goes dark.

* * *

Dave and Bishop finally exit Dave's private area once we actually land. I watch them from the windows as Aradia Megido runs to them from her car. Jake let her come, then. She gives Dave a hug, then Feferi, before holding out her hand for Bishop to shake, smiling and introducing herself, likely. Dave's avoiding looking at her - she's dressed in red and gray. Tough luck. Right behind her are the other three - John, Jade, Jane. Jake's decidedly still in his car. I watch their reunion, waiting for Dave, Jade, John, and Bishop to get into a car. Once it departs, I get down.

Jane grins when she sees me, giving me a salute. I nod in her direction.

Then Jake gets out of one of the other cars.

I smile inside as I step towards him. He stops halfway between the jet and his car, and when I give him the sup nod as we meet he rolls his eyes and motions his head toward the car. My eyes flit around to everyone around us. Seeing him in person again is _killing me_ , but I can wait. I spare a handshake for Jane and Aradia before joining Jake in the car.

The thing that's amazing about Jake's driver is that his window is always up, it's soundproof, and it's heavily tinted save for a strip at the top so he has a rearview. It takes more effort to drive like that, but he does, and I appreciate it, because as soon as we're on the road, I turn around, grab the sides of Jake's face, and cover his mouth with mine.

The first kiss is short. Jake pulls back a little. "Haven't seen you in months, mate," he laughs.

"I know," I say, pushing his back against the seat as our lips connect again. Why take it slow? I bite at his lip a little, gently tugging open his mouth, and let my tongue flick inside, running along the alveolar ridge behind his teeth. He melts into me, his hands around my neck, pulling me closer. I can feel his heartbeat against mine, thudding fast and hard. Good. I press my hands against his sides, his back, tangle them in his hair, kissing him harder and harder as his breaths start coming out with faint keening noises.

We're not alone, and not in an appropriate place to take it any further. This frustrates me. It shows as I'm kissing, apparently, because Jake breaks away, laughing, his face flushed. Yes.

"Be patient, Timaeus," he says hollowly, meekly.

"No." I slide my hands over his shoulders, tugging his jacket away from his arms, feeling his warmth through the crisp white shirt as I bend down and kiss the side of his mouth, his jaw, his neck. His words say no, but his voice, his hands, his face, everything says yes. So I don't stop. I push and push my lips to his skin all over, and we're like the sun and the moon, reuniting and eclipsing all thought, all time, because for a moment our power covers the entire world.

* * *

Jake, Dave, and I are in Jake's office, one wall made of just windows that overlook the fields and the other buildings of his estate. The walls are covered in books and movies and a projector screen.

"Feferi says access point 142 just went dark," Jake murmurs, leaning back in his chair with his legs up on the rich wood of his desk. Dave's reclining on one of the two couches, tapping his fingers up and down the spines of the books.

"Who cares about Louisiana anyway," he grumbles. I level my gaze on him. He's been sulking since I informed him of how long we'll be staying.

"27's not open yet either?" I check. Jake shakes his head, clicking something on his computer. "There's 2.5 billion coming through that one tomorrow, reroute it through to 35."

"I think 24's open," Dave mumbles.

"No, that one's risky," Jake says. "As for the transport through 49, it's been delayed, so get someone to keep watch over that."

"Dave," I say.

Dave's arms flop back to the armrest above his head. "Fine. I'll tell someone."

"I meant you should do it."

"I'm on a _six-month vacation_."

"Dave, you're-"

Jake interrupts me. "That's fine, ask Jade to do something about it."

"That's your cue to leave," I say pointedly.

Dave swings his feet off the couch, righting himself, before looking at Jake for a moment. "Why don't you pay Jane, John, and Jade anything? You have billions. I have billions. They have cents."

"He lets them live here," I say sharply. Dave ignores me. "They don't need anything more. You can give them some of yours if you want."

"Yeah, they won't take it, because they're about the only ones in this place with any conscience." He rises to his feet and slams the door on his way out. What a moody god damn twelve year old.

"He's upset," Jake notes.

"Stellar observation."

"Why?"

I sigh and lean back. "The housemate I told you about."

Jake stops typing and puts his feet down. I turn my head to look at him. "Right..." he says cautiously.

"What?"

"About that? Caliborn was here." Jake looks up to study my reaction - there's none, of course, that he can discern. But even I shiver internally at hearing his name. I like to think that there are better ways to go about doing some of the shit Bro did with Dave and me. "When are you going to tell me what it is he did to you?"

I shake my head. "The day it's even remotely important or relevant. What did you tell him?"

"I told him he could stay in one of the rooms."

"Damn it, Jake." I run one hand through my hair. Jake puts his feet back up, looking at me sideways through the space between his glasses and his face. "Are you looking at me like that on purpose?"

His eyes flit away - but it's too late, the damage is done. Whatever, we're alone here anyway. I stand and walk over to him, towering over him in his large swivel chair of leather. "The problem is, if I don't take him up on the offer, he's going to find a way to push it and push it, and that's going to be worse." I lean over Jake, putting one hand on either armrest so I hover over him.

"I thought it was your offer," Jake mutters, his voice low and gruff.

"Yeah, it was. I'm still weighing everything in, though," I say. I lean down, pausing with my face right in front of his.

"You already know what I think," Jake sighs, his cheeks faintly pink. "You do what needs to be done, but really, make sure it really is something that needs to be done. You know how you'd feel if it were Dave doing it to you."

"Yeah," I sigh. "It's too extreme. I'll tell him no. I'm going overboard with this."

Jake lets out a shaky laugh and closes his eyes, bringing one hand up to gently rest against my jaw, so light I can barely tell it's there. I can see the relief spreading across his face like frost. "I don't know what he did, but if it's so bad even you won't talk about it, it's hard to understand why you'd be inviting him to do it to someone else." They open again and stare at me, half-lidded.

I frown. "Do you think I'm a sadist, then?"

His eyes drift down to my mouth. "We both are."

That's good enough. I curl my fingers around his wrists, holding him in place, as I surge forward and crash my lips into his.

"Lock," Jake gasps as I break away to kiss, bite, suck on his neck.

"Not that one," I mutter, curling my arms around him and lifting him up to carry him to the bedroom.

 _This_ door, I lock.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Summary in case you skipped the chapter:  
> Dirk's POV. He plans to visit Jake in Mexico for six months on account of Dersite activity getting a little too dangerous for comfort. He argues with Dave about Karkat. Dirk and Jake discuss issues with Dave, Dersites, Rose's profile, Terezi running for president, Meenah as the Mexican president, and flirt a little. Dave's really upset about having to go for six months away from his home. Dirk lets him call Rose to accompany them, but mostly only because Dirk wants to keep and eye on her. They meet Aradia, and Dirk and Jake get gay in the car. Then on Jake's property they discuss some Veil running stuff and send Dave out to talk to Jade. Dave makes an attempt to ask for John, Jade, and Jane to get paid for working under Jake. Dave eventually leaves. Dirk and Jake discuss Dave and they mention Caliborn. Jake asks Dirk what it was Caliborn did to Dirk that Dirk won't talk about it. It seems to be related to some kind of offer Dirk and Caliborn are tossing back and forth at each other, concerning Dave as well as the striders' past. Then Dirk and Jake get gay again. 
> 
> Comments give me liife just so you know hint hint ;) ;)
> 
> ok but yeah I'll probably end up updating this more often as a consequence of using it for NaNoWriMo. So. Yeah!!
> 
> I also might make this a series and have part two be alternate chapters for if you don't want to read scenes that have to do with rape and other pretty dark stuff this will get into soon.


	10. Chapter 10

Hey guys, 

I'm not actually sure if anyone is still invested in this fic.

... I, for one, am not. I've moved more into the Voltron fandom and I won't be continuing this. The next few chapters are just going to be dumps of all my notes and concepts on this fic, chapter drafts and stuff, so if you are interested, feel free to read through them. 

You can always message me on my [tumblr](https://stupid-altean-pools.tumblr.com/) and request a drabble or just talk to me, if you'd like that sort of thing.

Unfortunately school is picking back up and with starting my senior year of high school and getting my things in order for college, I no longer have as much time to devote to this fic as I'd like. 

I _am_ writing a 100k klangst fic right now and will probably be posting that starting the next few months, so if you're into that then look out for that. But other than that, I'm sorry to leave this behind :)


	11. Chapter 11

I lay there for several minutes in the warmth of the sun, trying to muster up a reason to get up, rolling one of my dice across my knuckles over and over and over again until I can feel its weight even after it falls from my fingers. My lips throb, my tongue scratched and sore, my teeth aching, my entire body still feeling the after touch of Eridan's fucking jewelry. I huff out a breath and roll to my feet, scooping up the dice and jumping off the roof to the pavement.

The only thought that I can focus on at first, as I move to a nice looking parked car and start on the lock, is anger at Eridan and his abhorrent cartel network for drawing Terezi into their dirty schemes. I won't forgive him for that. The fight with Terezi is mine and mine alone - like hell I'm going to let Eridan stick his pungent foot in the door. He has no right to interfere with this. The lock succumbs and I slam the door closed behind me, flooring the pedal. I have two places to get to today, and very little time.

* * *

Terezi opens the door to her office, sets down her bag, and locks the door behind her before turning to acknowledge me. "Well, it's been a while," she says, her tone a mixture of caution and distaste.

"It has, hasn't it?" I smile at her. "How's it going with all the political bullshit you have to fight your way through? I couldn't do it. I admire you, you know! But maybe you should just take time to catch a break every now and then. The news stories about you are wild!"

She crosses her arms and leans against the desk. "I don't know how you got in here," she huffs. "I don't know why I'm here listening to you when I should be calling security."

"I'm flattered."

"So what do you want?"

I study her. She holds herself beautifully now, full of confidence and determination, not really like the girl I used to know. "You're here listening to me because I have something very important to say," I start. "I won't jeopardize you, Terezi, but I need to know why you're involved with the drug cartel known as the Veil."

Terezi suddenly looks thunderstruck. She swivels her head around the room quickly before turning back to me. "You don't need to know anything about that."

"Actually? I think I really do, Terezi," I say, a little more forcefully.

"It's not your business."

"It is!" I snap. Then I pull in a deep breath and fit myself back snugly into the windowsill. I squint at her some more. "See, it's not like you at all. I know you better than you think, Terezi."

"We were close once, it's not like I doubt that," she says dismissively. I wince internally.

"Yes, well, I've followed almost your every move after that, and I don't believe you're capable of letting go of your ideals about justice and equality," I continue.

"No, I'm apparently not," she says pointedly, frowning at me. I grin.

"Okay, maybe you are, just for me," I say, blowing her a kiss. "Anyway. I don't think you could possibly be doing this without some ulterior motive. What is it, Terezi?"

"I don't owe you any information," she says. "You're a liar and a thief. You're a criminal. My line of work is out of yours and I think it's time for you to leave."

"I disconnected your alarms," I say, waving my hand. "We're talking about this. I don't have all day either. So what is it? Are you trying to study them? Are you selling drugs yourself? Are you trying to infiltrate? You do realize that once you become president, they'll just exploit you?"

"They won't," she says firmly. "It's not what you think."

"Well I don't believe you're addicted to anything, either," I huff. This is getting frustrating. I jump down from the window again and walk toward her, tossing a die up and catching it over and over again. "You're obviously doing it to get close to them. But you know what? That's not working. They're using you as leverage over others. So tell me, _please,_ " I stop right in front of her. "That you're not just, like, _at their mercy._ "

Terezi lifts her chin up, directly facing me. "I'm at no one's mercy."

"You don't know them. I thought one dead Pyrope was enough for you," I throw out desperately.

Anger swirls into Terezi's expression. And then it clicks.

"Oh my god," I say. "That's why you're doing it. This is another scheme to uphold your justice complex."

"Maybe I am," she says. "Maybe it is. At least I still know right from wrong." Right from wrong.

I sigh, turning around and walking to the bookshelf, standing in front of it and staring at the titles without understanding anything of what they're saying. What is right and wrong? I really shouldn't be here. I escaped Latula Pyrope with mere luck after she caught Aranea. If Terezi catches wind that Aranea and I were partners, and that Pyrope senior was close to throwing me in prison as well, there will be literally no way out. But I can't seem to shake her out of my life.

"What?" Terezi asks after a couple minutes. "Having epiphanies over there?"

"I'm..." I frown at some of the book titles. History, mostly, and many of them focusing on Mexican cartels. Why is she so hellbent on whatever it is she's gotten herself into? I never should have broken off our moirallegiance. "Just thinking." I turn around. "I have a kismesis now."

Terezi raises her eyebrows. "Oh." Her expression screams that she couldn't care less but her voice glows with venom. My mind is spinning.

"He's a very key figure in this network you seem keen on dismantling. I'll help you take him down, but my price is a full pardon for any crimes I may have committed as well as a promise that after you lock him up you'll stop."

"Stop," Terezi repeats.

"Stop. As in, you'll stop whatever _this_ is," I say, pulling out a book and slapping it on the table.

"Don't throw around my books like that."

"Are you listening to me??" I yell. "I want you to stop messing with them. They're more powerful than you could imagine. You can't possibly go after any one part of them alone. You'll die. This way, they killed your family, so in return you can bring a major member into prison, or whatever it is you want to do with him. As long as he's out of the picture. So it's fair. And because I'll help you, you can pardon me."

Terezi turns to face the window, inhaling whatever scent is coming from it for a couple minutes. She's considering it. "I have power too. I'm not going after them alone. And I don't make deals like _that_ , with people like _you_." More internal wincing.

I smile, though, at the inflection in her voice. "Don't forget, Terezi," I say. "Like I said. I know you better than you think. So, you accept, then."

Terezi frowns. I don't think I've ever seen her morally stretched in this many directions. "All right," she says. I nod.

"I'll be in touch, then." I stride toward the door and open it. "See you soon."

* * *

I reach the hangar with just enough time to get on undetected before it takes off. The flight is mostly uneventful - as is the car ride afterwards. It's at the mansion and its surrounding property that the day picks up again.

I take some time to climb up to the loft of one of Golgotha's storage houses and fling off my jacket, stretching my limbs in the heat. The residents' building is probably where Tavros is at the moment, since the sun is blaring hot and he won't be out prancing around the grounds with his playmate until the evening. I head to the kitchens first, grabbing a pomegranate and working my fingers through the skin as I walk toward the smaller of the two main buildings.

John is the first person I run into during my search. He's intrigued me for years - watching him grow up in one place with one goal while Aranea and I were constantly moving around from one heist to another? It always left some kind of bittersweet sting in my chest. I watch him talking to Jade - his cousin, or something, whatever - in the dining hall for a good ten minutes before moving on.

The room that had been Tavros's last time I saw him has its door open, so I risk a peek inside and find him reading something at his desk. Megido doesn't seem to be in the vicinity, so I let myself in and lean against the wall next to him. When he doesn't notice me, I spit out a pomegranate seed at him, and it hits his neck. He immediately slaps at it and looks up, glaring, before seeing my face. His expression morphs into temporary shock, and then a hesitant smile.

"Well, what an unexpected surprise," he comments. "Good to see you. It's been a few months."

"Mhmm," I agree. "Still just as crippled, I see." He shakes his head and I bend down to give him a quick hug. "I'm actually here on some very important business."

"I was wondering. Last few times Timeaus visited, you didn't show your face at all." His eyes dance around. "I figured you were through with all of us, or something."

"Oh," I say sweetly, pushing his book closed and taking its place in front of him on the table. "Don't be daft. Me? Through with you? I've just been busy. I'm a busy girl! I'm not like you, sitting in one house all day and all night, only having to worry about things just a few miles from where you live."

"You'd never understand how many things happen here. You're always rushing around the bigger picture, trying to be everywhere at once," he says, raising an eyebrow. I wave his words away.

"Point is. I've been finding out stuff. Like, you know your girl? The one you dated before me or something. Megido. The freaky one. Her blood-relative actually was a prostitute."

Tavros frowns for a moment, and then shrugs, taking a few seeds from the fruit in my hand. "She's dead now either way. I'm pretty sure Rufioh probably knew that."

"Okay, whatever," I sigh. "Don't interrupt. First off, I think there's a chance she's still alive."

"She killed herself. Kind of a long time ago."

"Shut up, Tavros, don't interrupt. She spent a year in the hospital! Not my point. She might still be alive. Other than that, the organization that ran her whole prostitution sex slave gig all falls under one psycho named Caliborn. Heard that name before?"

Tavros looks suddenly taken aback, in a weird way. "No."

I narrow my eyes. "You're lying."

He blows out a breath through his nose. "I'm not. I haven't actually heard it before. It just sounds a little... Familiar. I might have heard the name around, or something."

I sigh. Useless information. "Okay, never mind, then. Anyway, because your enchanting relative brought her here, she ditched all that. So don't get your panties in a twist, I'm not suggesting she was unfaithful to your idol. Like you said, he probably knew anyway. But she ditched the prostitution, and after that she tried to kill herself. So Caliborn's men were a little pissed about that, so - they killed him."

Tavros's eyes widen. He rolls his wheelchair back a little, leaning forward and resting his chin on his clasped hands. "You know how he died?"

I wave my hand. "I've been hearing things here and there. I took an interest in Caliborn because his name kept popping up in Veil operations. I ran into a few of his men on a heist in Santa Monica. Anyway, I was looking at that and I traced stories and rumors through Megido to your winged pal. Turns out they were angry, so they tried to force him to join their sex enterprise?"

Tavros holds his hands up. "Can you stop saying everything so casually? This is my relative's death you're talking about."

"It's been years," I snap at him. A flicker of anger glows deep in his expression, but he's not going to ever act on it, so I roll my eyes at him. "Get over it. They raped him, tore his wing, fountains of bronze, he bled to death. Okay? That's the truth. Get used to it. The point is, I need you to figure out as much as you can about Caliborn and his connection directly to Timeaus. I haven't heard much about him related to Golgotha, but anything about that you can find out, great. I'm just telling you what I know so it'll motivate you a little."

He glares at me. "You're making light of this situation too much. You waltz in here and tell me someone I care about was brutally raped and murdered as motivation?"

I draw out a long sigh and lean forward, inhaling again to blow a strand of my hair out of my eyes. "Yeah. Did it not work? I can go into details about things they've supposedly done."

"You could have just asked," he says pointedly, scowling at the window. "This isn't some kind of topic of conversation you can just throw around."

I lean back against the wall. "Tell me what you find out! Get Megido in on this, too. You can tell her her relative was a whore," I purr.

He turns his gaze to me. "You cross lines, Vriska."

I stretch my arms up. "Stealing over lines I'm not supposed to cross is something I do for a living! Happy researching."


	12. Chapter 12

_I was already scared, already losing myself. It wasn't fair to make me do this. I was younger, I was less experienced, and yet I was sure that those reasons were exactly why Bro made me do it. Because Bro hated me, definitely hated me, I was sure of it. I tried so damn hard to still my hands, but they wouldn't stop shaking. "I'll do it," I said calmly. I could tell it wasn't phasing them in the slightest. Funny! Why would it! I was just a kid cowering behind a gun, playing pretend in an effort to impress he who would always loathe me. And yet I had to do it if I wanted to live. If I wanted to keep going to school, keep seeing my friends, keep visiting John and them, I had to, had to,_ had _to follow through with this. Failure just wasn't an option._

_"How old are you?" the woman asked gently. Her hands hung still at her sides._

_"We'll help you," the man tried. I laughed._

_"You can't," I sneered. Then I nodded at the woman. "Fourteen."_

_Her eyebrows drew up in sympathy. I didn't_ need _sympathy from her. It would make it that much harder to finish this. She opened her mouth, so before she could say anything, I squeezed the trigger._

_The boy surged forward to block the path of the bullet, the impact throwing him back into his partner as gold blood flew from his head. The recoil jerked my arm back. She screamed. She fell to the floor under his weight, her eyes wide and afraid, tears suddenly pouring down her face like from a faucet. I stepped back, gasping, taking in the sight of all the yellow blood, splatters of it on every surface, oceans of it pouring from the boy's skull._

_"Tuna!" The woman sobbed. "Mituna!!" The gun fell from my hands and the woman flinched as it hit the floor, cradling the man's bleeding head in her lap, the sound of clanging metal ringing and ringing in my ears. The sound of the gunshot ringing and ringing in my ears. The sound of the woman's scream ringing and ringing in my ears._

_That was when I realized._

_I couldn't do this._

_"Fuck!" I screamed, backing away from them. I couldn't. I couldn't. I couldn't. I'd rather die, myself, than do this. I felt the prickling in my nose that let me know the tears were coming. All the preparation - the cameras, the security systems, the painstaking effort I'd rushed through to give myself this window. And now, now I just couldn't do it. The woman watched me with wife, grief stricken eyes._ I caused this, _I thought to myself. I felt like I was going to be sick. I felt like a horrid monster._

 _She didn't even say anything, just looked back and forth between me and the gun. I picked it up, and she closed her eyes. "Take him away," I muttered, my voice coming out completely flat, normal, calm. I had years of practicing hiding my emotions from Bro. "Help him. He still has a chance. Get out. Get away. If you don't run, if you don't disappear, we will find and kill_ everyone you love _. Everyone, do you hear me? At least, they will, after they kill me." I inhaled deeply, shakily, trying to calm the panic in my mind. She was a CIA agent. She could do what I asked. "Save yourself. This is the only chance you'll ever get!" Then I turned and ran. Fucking school started in forty damn minutes, anyway. And she would do it, she would do it because my family was the only one in which no one cared if other members of it lived or died._

* * *

There's a knock on the window of my car. I glance up to see Bishop, looking considerably less annoyed than I expected. I let that motion be my acknowledgment of her presence before I tip the rest of the carton of apple juice down my throat. It's useless, anyway - the taste of lipstick is still invading my senses, all of them. I kind of wish Timaeus had missed and shot me instead, but of course that's impossible with him. I close my eyes for a second, breathing in the lingering sweet scent of apples, before I finally set the carton down and get out of my car.

"I think you're late," I say, just to check, to make sure my voice is in monotone.

She nods. "I guess I am."

Damn it, that's not what she was supposed to say. She's studying me, I can tell, and I _hate_ it when she does that - it drives me insane, makes me feel like the contents of my mind have been laid bare before her fingers. I grab her by the wrist and head toward the jet, going straight up the steps. Feferi smiles at me and opens the door, but I ignore her and walk quickly to my private lounge, throwing back the curtains and shoving Rose inside before turning around and drawing them closed with a quick snap of the arm. Then I push her to the couch and climb on top of her, hovering parallel over her body. She still looks calm, collected. Why can't I be like this??

I'm angry, so angry. What kind of shit goes through people's minds when they commit these kinds of crimes? I could do it too. Anyone could do it. But what makes them go through with it? What makes me stop?

Bishop's breathing hasn't even changed. She reaches up with one hand to my lips, rubbing her thumb over one corner. It comes away with a small smear of cherry red. "Will you tell me?" she says, and her voice is, impossibly, even calmer than her face. I recede away from her, sitting back and leaning until my spine is resting against the armrest. It's not calm, exactly. It's sympathy and patience. She knew all along I would never do anything to her.

"No," I say, clearly, loudly, trying so hard to mimic her. She nods, pulling herself up to a sitting position opposite from me. I figure I can't keep her in the dark the way Timeaus did with me. "We won't be coming back for another six months."

Bishop's perfect eyebrows rise up in surprise. "Really? Where are we going?"

I blow out air sharply. " _La país de México._ "

"Do you know Spanish?"

"Fucking obviously, Rose," I sneer. " _Quiero matarme._ "

" _Pouquoi?_ " she asks. French. Despite everything being terrible and sucking ass, I actually laugh.

" _Odio este estilo de vida._ "

" _Est ce mode de vie que vous avez pas optimale?_ "

"I fucking hate everything, Rose!" I yell in English. I register the look on her face: cautious, yet at the same time like she's trying to figure me out. "Fuck," I mutter, draping myself back over the armrest and weaving my fingers into my hair. Fucking whatever. I'm spending the next six months away from Karkat and with her instead, anyway. There's no point trying to keep her at distance anymore.

I'm going to miss him so much.

* * *


	13. Chapter 13

Btafto

 

Btafto and other random crap

Never be like you

It's all in my head

 

Glacé

 

Your knight in shining armor wields a fragmented sword

Your sister is but a pendant you strung on your blade

Your lover's heart, struck by your knife and plunged into flame

Why does blind justice fight when it's no longer blind?

You killed the kind leader with one pinch to the mind

You played games that wrought only grief and death

You hurt your lover so your hater hurt you more

And yet you try to justify how you bleed

 

Important to Dave because he let them go and if they were this involved with Cronus then it presents a danger. And he didn't know any of this; he didn't know why he had to kill them and he didn't know her name and to know that Terezi pyrope had an older sister in the police on a case against the Veil means that Terezi is danger. Also, he doesn't want to kill Terezi. It'll be way too hard on and for him. So he has to hide this entire thing from Dirk and there's just too much weight on my baby's shoulders

Eridan realizes that this past-moirail that Vriska is always talking about is fucking Terezi Pyrope the senator and that her stories if they connect means that Latula Pyrope brought in Aranea. And Latula Pyrope and Mituna Captor's story matters to him because he cares so much for his brother. What a small world - that his kismesis is ex-moirails with the sister of his brother's ex-matesprit's other ex-matesprit who is also his ex-kismesis's matesprit. So if this is true then Terezi probably knows about the Veil and Cronus and stuff and if that's true there's a chance Vriska knows and if Vriska knows there's a good chance that Vriska can bring about his downfall if it ends up that she is still on good terms with Terezi. And he has no leverage over Vriska - but he needs to know how much of a possibility there is that Vriska will use Terezi to bring his downfall, so he threatens to harm Terezi because she maintains contact with Knight. Vriska is of course very very very protective of Terezi because that fight is hers and hers alone and no one can involve Terezi unless it's her and she starts wondering why the hell Terezi is buying drugs because that does not fit with Terezi's character at ALL and eventually she puts it together that Terezi probably must be trying to gain Intel on the Veil and bring them down and she sees her opportunity to subdue Eridan. Tricky tricky romance. Terezi will probably go ashen with them or something - because Eridan definitely has an ashen crush for her later on. Eridan knows that Vriska got away because Latula didn't know of her existence and that if Terezi finds out she will bring Vriska in and so they're basically each threatening to use Terezi to bring the other into jail - but Vriska has the trump card because she knows that Terezi isn't actually on the cartel's side, and is in fact wholly devoted to bringing them down and as such she has the upper hand over Eridan.

Rose's morality is being toyed with, a lot. She really really sees Dave's point of view the more time she spends with him. She sees the part of him that cares for Jade, how he isn't a bad person, how jail would crush him so she tells him he could walk away from this life. And he sighs and says he would be living in hiding forever and he's thinking of Latula and Mituna and Rose in some weird sympathetic moment says she'll be with him and that resonates with him and so he betrays the cartel to the Dersites and he's on his way to kiss karkat goodbye after first offering that Karkat come stay with him and Caliborn is after him and he arrives and gets shot in the leg by Karkat and then Caliborns men are on him and Karkat hears them and gets afraid because he thinks they're Dave's men and he runs and they find Dave and they take him away and nnghghhhhghghg fuck maybe if rose knows about Mituna and Latula she uses that to argue that Dave can do it and it's a possibility and all. But Rose doesn't know that Dave actually does it but when she finds out Dave is missing and she sees Karkat suddenly like oh my god what has happened she decides she's going to find Dave get him better and then betray the police and help him escape so they can all live and she sees Karkat in turmoil over this so she plans to offer him to come with them and she knows she's going to try to get Kanaya to come with her but as they're leaving Kanaya kisses her and says of course I'm coming if this is what you must do. And Roxy is left behind without her younger sister and she's okay with that because sometimes to maintain your love you've got to bend the law a little so she keeps in contact with Rose and helps keep the police off their trail. And Terezi is wrecked from all this but Vriska is there for her and Terezi won't give up her morals and what she stands for but Vriska reveals that Latula Pyrope is alive and Terezi realizes that once this is outed to the public her career is basically done for and there's no justice to be had since Latula is alive and so they all go and live with Latula and Mituna.

It's a story where the bad guys win

But not in the way you'd expect

 

What she says: I'm fine

What she means: terezi was so happy and proud to be who she was and she loved Karkat and wanted to be with him but she couldn't stay with him because his mind was too confused and muddled for her and she left him and she felt bad about it but was still satisfied in knowing she was doing what was best for herself and on top of that Gamzee forced her into an abusive relationship and she didn't end it for fear of hurting Gamzee and in turn hurting Karkat and she met her ancestor and suffered with severe insecurity to the point where she gave up her blindness and when Karkat comforted her she was so confused that it took her too long to respond but by the time she got up to look for him and seek solace in a friend he was gone and she felt worse knowing that she'd messed up another friendship and on top of that she was led to believe that Karkat was now in a relationship with Meenah and she decided she would discard thoughts of romance and try to stand for herself again but she witnessed all her friends die in front of her and she k e p t f i g h t i n g and saved the entire timeline singlehandedly before dying but passing on her memories to her alternate self who never even got to see the one person who she could hold on to ever again and it was never even confirmed if she made it to the new universe or not and she never got the canon happy ending she deserved and ended up sacrificing everything but gaining nothing and IM NOT FUCKING FINE

 

 

I wasted so much time being angry at what I lost when i had so much

M. C. Escher

Åland

All the pieces suddenly fly together. Dave. Knight. Porrim's and Kankri's murder. It's Dave's fault, all of it. The realization slams into my gut like I've been hit by a bullet train.

Dave is - I can't say it. I can't call him out for what he is. It's too contrasting and I can't handle the thought yet. My own emotions are filling up, rising like bile, threaten to asphyxiate me. I feel scared and angry and, most of all, _betrayed_.

I choke back a strange hiccup in my throat. I can't see straight. My vision keeps dipping, swirling with pink tears as I try to make sense of the world, which is suddenly so much bigger and harsher and crueler than I ever dreamed.

Worst of all is how utterly alone I suddenly feel. It's a cold feeling, devoid of everything except indifference and coated with malice.

The tears come hot and fast, pouring down my lashes, dripping, splashing. Explosions against the hard floor, my heart slamming into another wall of ice. I force them back. I'm grown, I'm an adult. I don't cry anymore.

 

I gasp in air that feels too hazardous to breathe. Who is Dave?

Hes not the Dave I thought he was. The Dave I knew was aloof, dorky, whiny, infuriating. He had pretty lips soft and precious, he had shades hiding beautiful eyes that burst with passion and strength. Dave cared. Dave was in love with his job at the museum. Dave made me listen to shitty rap music. Dave made me feel comforted. Dave distracted from the monotony that becomes the life of an English professor. Dave was a welcoming change from the stress of tracking down the Veil. Dave was my _home_.

All of that had been a lie.

My heart clenches and throbs in my chest. The tears. Don't. Stop. I blink them back before they fall, my throat so tight it hitches with every agonizing breath, as I try to come to terms with reality. I don't want to believe it yet, that the person I held closest to my heart was the enemy I'd sworn to destroy.

I'd loved a lie.

_I'd loved a lie._

 

I wonder blankly, terrified, what Dave will do to me. He's dangerous and if he finds out I know who he is, there is no chance I'll be okay afterwards. He's not just involved.

He's - he's second in command.

And I've kissed him.

The guilt pulls every tiny fiber of muscle in my body taut with pain. Self-disgust clouds the space between every cell. I curl in on myself, unable to stand the emotional hurt, clutching my sides and making a pathetic whimpering noise.

The real Dave is a murderer.

He kills people.

He probably tortures people.

The boy I sat next to in sophomore math makes his living off of drug addicts ruining their lives.

How many people's blood does Dave have on his hands? What's the addition of a certain candy-blooded troll to that list going to mean to him? Will he blink? Will he _feel_ anything?

Will he remember my name?

I'm disgusted at myself. Even after everything I know, I'm still afraid for my importance to him. I - I - I still want to be loved by him. I still _want_ him. _I still love him_, and I feel wretched.

I bite on the collar of my jacket and scream into the cloth. It feels so good to scream, to let my throat ache with a different kind of pain than that which accompanies choking back tears. I can't breathe. My lungs are collapsing under the weight of knowledge I wish I didn't have.

This is what heartbreak feels like.

My hand tightens around the chess peice and I fling it to the ground as hard as I can. With a screeching, shattering noise, it splits a thousand times and scatters in every direction. It's an accurate visual representation of how I feel.

Nothing hurts you more than when you give your life, your love, in vain. When you take the pain but find no gain. When you plant the seeds but reap no harvest. When you run and run and run across the world to find your calling, and then you realize you never had one.

When you realize everything you knew was false, there's no where left to go. So you fall. You fall further and further into a void of confusion and fear, hurting until pain can't even be described as pain anymore because you're used to it and it fades into the background, a dull agony that never ends. A symphony impossible to play, a masterpiece wrecked in a day.

A black hole would stretch your physical body out over space like a spaghetti noodle if you got close enough to be sucked in. Dave's betrayal has stretched me even more. I'm worn through and hollow, empty, yet for some reason I'm kept alive just enough to feel how much it hurts.

It's not a loss of Dave. It's a loss of everything I had devoted myself to. My dedication to bring down a criminal network and do some good to the world. My devotion to love someone who knew me better than anyone else. It's a disappearance of every conceivable feeling except that of failure.

My throat is raw from screaming and nothing helps my agony. Every bone in my body aches.

But _why_? Why would a killer seek me out, befriend me, share a house with me? I try to put the two images together. Things I try to imagine that don't make any sense:

1) Dave with a knife  
2) Dave with a gun (despite the fact that I'm holding his own gun in my hand at this moment)  
3) My brother's killer falling in love with me  
4) Dave pretending to love me  
5) Dave killing someone (even the idea of this happening terrifies me and brings tears to my eyes)  
6) Dave making drug deals (Dave doesn't even touch champagne)  
7) The image of Dave running around in a dark alleyway, a cold expression on his handsome face, surrounded by gunshots (that's probably not what it's like, but it's the image that pops into my head)  
8) the Hollywood movie-image of Dave in a rich mansion drinking and surrounded by attractive females (this makes my stomach churn with a mix of jealousy and guilt and fear and makes me want to throw up)

 

And then the door opens, and _Dave walks in._ Fear seizes my mind. He's saying something, but abruptly freezes when he sees me clutching my sides curled up on the floor. Sparks of glass glitter in all directions. He takes a step forward.

Complete terror explodes in my every nerve. I raise his own gun in his direction, my arm shaking so wildly I know I won't ever manage a straight shot. Dave's mouth is parted in shock.

"Don't." I shiver from the pain in my vocal chords. "Don't. Come. Any. Closer."

Perestroika  
Dave is on the American side of the Mexican border where Dirk is the main buyer from drug dealer people in Mexico uhhh not the cartel because I don't know anything about them I mean I could research maybe but yeah whatever and Dave operates drug runs he's one of the main underlings and they sell to senator terezi pyrope who is secretly only trying to get close relations with the drug lords and she doesn't actually need drugs and she works with karkat as part of an underground unit formed to tear that route down and she knows their access points through the Mexican American border but she doesn't know who the main kingpins are in either country and so she's trying to figure that out and Dave and karkat are friends in real life but neither of them realize what they really work for

John and jade are on the Mexican side of the border and they work for jake who runs harvesting and whatever other shit goes on with drugs ((research!!)) with Jane. Neither of them are users. Mostly they're doing it for the money because ok tbh what choice do they have and so John and Jade help make sure the shipments make it through.

Rose is an undercover double agent who's pretending to be part of the drug runs and trying to get close to Dave since he's one of the few who's seen dirks face but he's the only one of said few who also participates in actual work since he tries to stay as far from their center of operations as possible

ROXY is special FBI who has employed rose to do this; neither of them have any idea of karkat and Terezi's underground units. Sollux is also part of the FBI force; he's roxy's superior, and eventually later on in the story terezi seeks him out for help in bringing them down. He's friends with her and Karkat but he doesn't know they're involved either.

Eridan is an arms dealer. Feferi is their pilot and also runs security for their tunnels and shit. Very clean, desk job. As her covee, she runs a bar. Eridan is fucking in love with her and wants to help her get legal and come live with him in America. Equius works under Eridan as an arms dealer but spends his days off hunting with Nepeta who's a hunter hobbyist person but she's studying law and she's working with the Skaians under Terezi kind of like an intern. Major crush on Karkat. She's gonna get with John eventually somehow.

Gamzee is this guy that first off terezi can not stand but Karkat keeps him in their underground headquarters because he's a drug user but Karkat sees that he'd only started because of family problems and he wants to help him. Later on Gamzee loses control and tries to join up with the drug cartel maybe but he's ofc turned down so he goes on a rampaging spree. He's gotta die. Or maybe he just overdosed and dies. Disappears maybe. In the Dave angst scene he shows up and karkats like wtf are you doing here and Gamzee is like mother fuckin shenanigans bro and Dave cringes away from him because Gamzee hurt Dave and Karkat conflicted angst and wowowowowow 

Vriska is a criminal mainly orchestrates heists but she says she will help terezi end the cartel if terezi pardons her. They were childhood friends so terezi takes up the offer with no intention of completely pardoning her; but maybe redeeming a few things. So she helps terezi find Eridan because kismesissitude yoooo there's gonna be a scene where Vriska says to Eridan how she could end him and yeee

Aradia is in Mexico and she lives with Jake and they have fun together and he takes her to America when he can and there she's seeing sollux mmmmm

Tavros is also living in Mexico and yeah idk he hangs out with aradia and they adventure and stuff together 

Kanaya man kanayaaaaaa ok she's Karkat's best friend and she works as a fashion designer for Hollywood and this is set in California duh and she knows rose and she's also affiliated with the Skaians and helps with a lot of their research and she goes with Karkat and she helps calm Dave down in The Scene because green you know and lots of Karkat angst because looking at him just sends Dave into a terrified shut down state because ofc they're all bloody and stuff from fighting and yus  
Also how kanaya deals with the first realization that Rose is part of the drug runs until terezi is like wait this doesn't sit right after she talks to sollux and meets ROXY and ROXY tells them she has an internal agent and then ROXY and rose are like gonna go meet the Skaians and then she's like WAO KANAYA?????? And also like she and terezi meet and like wow I thought you were just a very controlled buyer and terezi was like nah I'm studying your drugs and then terezi talks to her about bringing Dave in and rose explains how he's basically untouchable and terezi realizes just how important Dave is but neither of them know yet that Dave is timeaus's brother  
Yo ok gotta figure out some ancestor shit comprende yes comprende ok

Sweet so

We've gotttt

Mexico side -  
Damara  
Aradia  
Rufioh  
Tavros  
Aranea  
Vriska  
Horuss  
Equius  
Cronus  
Eridan  
Meenah  
Feferi  
John  
Jane  
Jade  
Jake

America side -  
Mituna  
Sollux  
Kankri  
Karkat  
Meulin  
Nepeta  
Porrim  
Kanaya  
Latula  
Terezi  
Kurloz  
Gamzee  
Rose  
Roxy  
Dave  
Dirk

 

So, we'll go down the list to keep it simple.

Damara was in poverty and grew up in a child-prostitution environment that Caliborn ran. She r a n from it. Her addiction to some drugs caused her to join up with the cartel, and she did everything in her power to keep Aradia safe from the world she grew up in. It definitely succeeded - Aradia didn't find out about her mother's dark history until much later when Damara 'passed away'. Damara did engage in prostitution back when she didn't have a solid spot with the cartel, until she met Rufioh and fell in love with him. Rufioh was part of the cartel and he was tavros's older brother - and he greatly respected Damara and she as a result respected him back because when do prositutes get respect? He gave her a place to live in the mansion house place and aradia as an older teen (still miraculously has no idea about her mother's past and present dilemmas) meets tavros and they become quick friends and go exploring all the time particularly with Jake. Damara attempts suicide later and she's taken to a hospital where her addiction is treated - but she never goes back to Aradia's life. She will be important to the story later. She does a lot of research when she first moves into the house and knows about Dave and dirks whole psychological torture thing and caliborn and all. So she helps them later.

Rufioh was born into the mansion where they cultivate opium and other shit. He dated damara and mainly looked after production until Jake could take over. He was heartbroken after Damara killed herself and later dated horuss on the rebound but really he honestly couldn't take it. He planned to break up with horuss but never got the chance because he. Yeah. Died. Wings are delicate and have arteries. Little rough handling during rape and eugh. Horuss found out later and went after the rapists, they killed him. Tavros never knew. Aradia and tavros my smol innocent babies ahh protect them they are pure

Mituna was Sollux's older brother of course. He, Latula, porrim, and Kankri were all in the police force, CIA. Influenced Sollux GREATLY but also scared him and so Sollux took a desk job - but he and Latula were partners in the field and they were originally investigating the Veil as a growing potential threat to national security. Sollux and the others are adults and are through/almost through college and all, settling into their careers in a more permanent fashion, and then the Veil through Cronus finds out about these CIA guys. Mituna later gets news that his moirail is fucking dead, and he's not feeling okay AT ALL at all at all and Latula is with him but Caliborn sends Dave and Dirk after them as kind of a test mission and Mituna leaps in front of Latula and takes a shot to the head. He survives, but with severe cranial dehabilitations.

Kankri was part of the CIA with Porrim and Mituna and Latula. He was their backup field agent - things were really hard for him because he loved Latula who unfortunately loved his best friend. It kind of drew him apart. On top of that, Mituna comes and informs him of his moirallegiance with Kurloz and that's hard on Kankri but he builds one really really really strong moirallegiance with porrim to fall back on. They become inseparable until Cronus realizes both his concupiscent quadrants are filled by CIA agents and Dirk is sent to these two while Dave to the other and ofc Dirk is capable and he kills them both. Kankri actually does die.

Meulin was different. She was not part of this world. But it fascinated her, and she loved it. She was studying and her younger sister was studying and she dated this boy who was into some bad things because he had a soft side and it was lovely and she was into psychology and studying this was brilliant. If she'd ever met rose they would have hit off, and then - and then Kurloz was shot and his scream deafened her. And Cronus was coming for her, Cronus was drunk and dangerous and she fought, she fought like a beast. She fought and she came home yes, bleeding, and yes, wounded, but no, not raped, not raped. And Nepeta is smart and she has a friend named Terezi and she trusts Terezi and so Nepeta tells Terezi about her older sister who was attacked and Terezi's first response is to make absolutely sure Meulin is okay - she gets her to a hospital - and then she asks nepeta how she's feeling and nepeta wants to know who did this - and terezi is protective of nepeta especially after this but nepeta is strong and nepeta can fight and this is when Terezi decides she can let her younger taekwondo buddy informally intern with her. Meulin actually lives through the story.

Porrim is literally like a big sister to Kankri. She loves him and is his moirail and she knows his hurt and sorrow and she looks out for him. She works for the CIA but never fancied a field job so took a desk one and worked with her team consisting of Kankri, Mituna, and Latula, while also taking on modeling as a side job. She appreciated fashion and often tried stuff on Kanaya who totally took to it and grew up with aspirations to be a fashion designer. She admired her older sister though and also decided to work research undercover like Porrim, but for her almost brother Karkat and his love Terezi instead. Porrim was with Kankri and was killed alongside him. This happened in the house they shared and Kanaya and Karkat had to support each other. Karkat was emotionally scarred and ran to the most peaceful occupation he could think of that still maintained his interests - an English professor. Kanaya didn't know Porrim and Kankri worked for the CIA either, just that Porrim told her she was doing secret research for her friends who were special agents and Kanaya had to keep quiet about it, even to Karkat, because lmao Porrim doesn't give a fuck about the rules but knows Kankri hella does and out of respect for Kankri doesn't want Karkat to know.

Latula definitely fell hard for her field agent partner Mituna. They were unstoppable and she and him spent their free time skating and listening to music and shit and it was like they never aged past sweet sixteen - so when Dave shows up trying to keep a straight face and Latula's pretty sure there's protocol for this but she's kind of dumbfounded because what? Her and Mituna? Are like? The power couple? Unstoppable? And then Mituna takes the shot for her and her unfathomable grief really hits Dave and he drops the gun and says shakily to get Mituna medical help and that they absolutely must disappear because if they don't then they will face no chance of living and he was sent to kill them but he can't do it he can't he just can't and he needs them to go because if anyone finds out about this he will die and someone crueler will come and they will die and so Latula understands and flees. They're pronounced dead. Terezi is full of hurt and revenge and Vriska when she finds out knows knows knows it was the Veil and Vriska runs out of Terezi's life so Terezi goes to her only other close friend Karkat and sets up this organization for tracking down the Veil and she is afire with ambition and the furious blaze that fuels the pursuit of justice and she will never let up until she's exacted her just revenge. Oof im giving myself the serious feels here and I haven't even narrated it out

Aranea had a great friendship with Meenah. They even dated for a while but it drew apart because they slowly drifted into friends with benefits - and aranea's dangerous ambitions outlived her love for and willingness to support Meenah. She and her sister orchestrate heists and bathe I the money reaped from their exploits - she's the mastermind, Vriska is the thief. Aranea eventually goes down to Latula the notorious CIA agent, but Vriska escapes and Latula never knew of her. Aranea basically serves time in prison and Vriska meanwhile is good friends with terezi and they're in taekwondo together and they rock and when they spar with each other Dayum everyone stay back retreat to a safe distance and just watch. Aranea spends the rest of her life in prison.

Horuss like dated rufioh and was into horses and shit and he found out rufioh was raped and died later and he went after the rapists and died. Lmfao his story sounds so tame after writing out the rest of these pour guys' stories.

Kurloz didn't want anything to happen to Meulin. She was all he cared about, wondering how on earth he got so lucky to score someone like her when he had a lifestyle like, well, himself - drugs. He bought drugs. And he's got the money but Meulin loves him for him and she looks after his little brother because his little brother has been into some drug shut as well and she knows that despite Kurloz's incapability to look after him, he cares. And he loves her because she's sweet and kind and he becomes moirails with this CIA agent who knows his problems and respects him because they balance each other out and they contrast so much that it helps them so much and they become so so close like was never imaginable. Mituna knew he was putting himself in danger by shielding Kurloz - he never knew he was putting Kurloz in danger until Kurloz was dead.

Cronus is the Veil's main arms dealer yeah? And he's an easygoing guy and things are going well for him he's just gotta keep track of guns and send people to take care of his shipments, management is treating him well and he's got downtime in which he meets Kankri and WOW HOT and this dude never shuts up does he well CRONUS can CHANGE tHaT and then he meets Kankri's best friend who Kankri wanted as a moirail except this jerk had the audacity to pale for some purpleblooded bloke except he's a l s o. H o t. And it's a perfect kismesissitude right off the bat and damn if things aren't going well for Cronus until - until. Eventually of course he finds out - he figures out that not just one but BOTH of his concupiscent partners are his enemies. And even hate - it's just too much of a rivalry to allow for a healthy kismesissitude and their only auspistice will be a gun and he definitely can't bring himself to do it himself so he tells. He tells caliborn everything, and after Caliborn decides that these guys must be taken down, he goes after Kurloz and kills him in his utter rage and he can't bring himself to hurt Kankri but oh sure he can hurt the hell out of Mituna. Because he's heartbroken and heartbreak makes it easy to excuse your actions. But he finds drugs in Kurloz's dumpy apartment and oh what a small world it must be. And he's emotionally unstable so he downs them and t h e n he meets dear sweet Meulin - who is short and has big hair and is hot and well if guys break hearts then maybe girls hearts get broken and he's not himself and he's drugged and he attempts to move on meulin but but oh what a wrong move because though she may be but little she is fierCE and Cronus comes home bleeding and drugged and Meulin gets home bleeding and heartbroken and in shock. Cronus begins to lose his touch. Managing is too much for him to handle and things start to slip. The cartel is understocked on ammunition and there are poorly made guns and guns falling apart and threats growing from people who want their arms and Eridan decides it's time that he takes over. Theyre brothers though and Cronus doesn't appreciate at first but they both speak the same language and SOMETHING gets through because Cronus steps down and although he devotes himself to heavy drug use after that and develops an existential crisis that gives birth to an intense desire to be human - because humans love and don't suffer four types of romance and four types of heartbreak - although he's on the road to flushing his life down a toilet, he's looked after by Eridan. And Eridan loves him and keeps him from overstepping the line. Fuck I'm getting feels. He sees Eridan and Feferi and wishes for something and he has that crush on Meenah now which is hell because his battered heart doesn't seem to know when to stop. His life is hell. Ohh fuckkk,,hngz

Meenah runs the bar with Feferi. She ain't got time for Cronus, ain't got time for nobody really, and she was all set to be the president of Mexico just like her dear mother always wanted - so she took Feferi and ran away from home. They ran as far from the world of politics and diplomacy and leadership as they could - running a small bar and having a meager desk job as a part of an organization that is as far from the law as one gets. She's having fun and then she finds Karkat, conflicted Karkat with too many clashing emotions and Cronus is visiting her bar and then Karkat and Rose and Terezi and Sollux and Kanaya and roxy walk in and and then, oh god, Cronus is kissing Karkat. He couldn't control it. He was especially drunk that night, and Karkat had this frown this troubled frown on his face and Meenah's gotta admit he looked a lot like his blabbermouth brother she met one time but she's a no-bullshit kind of gal and she feels a strong twinge of irritation at Cronus for not being able to control himself because now Sollux is pushing the two apart and Karkat is yelling and flushing (he's p cute, she has to admit) and scrubbing his lips furiously and Cronus takes one look at those bicolored eyes and just takes a swing at Sollux. So Sollux throws him across the room because, hell, Karkat is helping them even in his state and Sollux is nothing if not a loyal friend. Feferi comes rushing into the room as she hears the commotion and Meenah slings her arm around Karkat and takes him back because Cronus is drunk, Cronus is rough, Karkat's lip is bleeding and she's gotta help him, no, no not because he's adorable or because she feels a little concerned and kind of doesn't want to see him hurt no what the hell are those feelings. Also of course they're looking for Dave and she's worried because Feferi has been looking for Dave too. Of course. That too. And. She almost kisses Karkat but no, she won't do it. She won't sink to Cronus's level unless she's coming down to pound his guts. Which she will do, she definitely will do later. And she's asking Karkat his story because he looks so troubled and he just shrugs and says he fell in love with someone and it turned out to be an enemy and he has responsibilities he needs to fulfill that come first over his feelings and wow ok she's feeling pretty flushed for him by this point. And damn, damn if this doesn't sound so familiar so she opens up to him, tells him someone she knew once did the same thing and he had his enemy killed and he regrets it to this day. And Karkat still doesn't look any better and haha she wants to see him better it's ridiculous she's ridiculous, so so so she concedes some more ground and tells him and drops the rock on him - hey Karkat you're talking to the girl who famously ran away from presidency and was presumed dead. So his jaw drops and she can't help it so she kisses his cheek and says you know responsibility isn't everything and sometimes what's best for you is to betray your family and DAMN that sticks with him. And Meenah is friends with Damara, Damara has a permanent residence here because she spent several years away but she couldn't seal herself off completely because she's already lost so much - and so she stays at the bar and she befriends Meenah and listens to the stories about how the cartel is going and all. So Meenah tells Damara that she has a chance to do something good, to do don't him she won't regret and Damara isn't the type of girl who believes in redemption arcs and she's bitter and angry from her past but hey Meenah is pretty sexy and she's been noticing for a hella long time now and so when Meenah tells Damara about this boy who wants to find his love, Damara knows right off the bat that Meenah is crushing. And Meenah has a hunch about where Dave is but oh man Damara won't like it and she's suspected for a while but of course she couldn't ever tell Feferi because this man is dangerous and after hearing the stories about Damara she could never send Feferi off to someone like that. And so Damara asks Meenah if Meenah likes this boy and Meenah sighs because yeah and isn't that pathetic now so Damara kisses her then and wow that was unexpected and Damara smiles and says she'll do it for Meenah because she's abandoned one loved one, two loved ones, and she won't, WONT abandon a third. So she goes. She goes and she takes them to Caliborn.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm accepting artwork for this. Comment a scene you want to illustrate below to reserve it, and submit artwork to my [tumblr.](http://etra-413.tumblr.com) I'll put it in the story.


End file.
